mine

1 of 4

adjective

: my
used before a word beginning with a vowel or h
this treasure in mine armsWilliam Shakespeare
or sometimes as a modifier of a preceding noun
archaic except in an elevated style

mine

2 of 4

pronoun

singular or plural in construction
: that which belongs to me
used without a following noun as a pronoun equivalent in meaning to the adjective my
Your eyes are brown and mine are green.

mine

3 of 4

noun

1
a
: a pit or excavation in the earth from which mineral substances are taken
b
: an ore deposit
2
: a subterranean passage under an enemy position
3
: an encased explosive that is placed in the ground or in water and set to explode when disturbed
4
: a rich source of supply

mine

4 of 4

verb

mined; mining

transitive verb

1
a
: to dig under to gain access or cause the collapse of (an enemy position)
b
2
a
: to get (something, such as ore) from the earth
b
: to extract from a source
information mined from the files
3
: to burrow beneath the surface of
larva that mines leaves
4
: to place military mines in, on, or under
mine a harbor
5
a
: to dig into for ore or metal
b
: to process for obtaining a natural constituent
mine the air for nitrogen
c
: to seek valuable material in
mine old records for more details
6
: to create or obtain more units of (a cryptocurrency) through a cryptographic process
But bitcoins also need to be generated in the first place. Bitcoins are "mined" when you set your Bitcoin client to a mode that has it compete to update the public log of transactions. All the clients set to this mode race to solve a cryptographic puzzle by completing the next "block" of the shared transaction log. Winning the race to complete the next block wins you a 50-Bitcoin prize.Tom Simonite

intransitive verb

: to dig a mine
miner noun

Examples of mine in a Sentence

Noun a baseball fanatic who is a mine of fascinating trivia about the game the soldiers were careful to disarm any mines they found in their path Verb The area was soon filled with prospectors who were mining for gold. Prospectors mined the region for diamonds. Local people were hired to mine the gold. The enemy had mined the harbor.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Also, foundations for homes were built with mine tailings, which exposed people to toxic levels of mercury and other toxic substances. The Arizona Republic, 29 Feb. 2024 The mine backfill inputs have been reviewed and verified by Dr. David Stone, P.Eng. of MineFill Services, Seattle, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Feb. 2024 Until now, Ukraine has not had a national plan on how to deal with the mine problem—its ad hoc response has been split between the military, NGOs, a small number of private mine-clearance companies, and a small network of government mine-clearance operators. Justin Ling, WIRED, 19 Feb. 2024 Cathy McGrath is among the closest neighbors to the project, with a home backing onto the mountains and just across an arroyo from where the company intends to move mine tailings. Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 7 Mar. 2024 To fund these wars, Congolese leaders sold mine sites to foreigners. Amel Mukhtar, Vogue, 5 Mar. 2024 To add to the mystery, Scarpetta’s assistant discovers a footprint in the mine dust that could only belong to Bigfoot. Sandra Dallas, The Denver Post, 25 Feb. 2024 Make mine pork dumplings draped with a creamy blanket of sesame seeds and lit with chile oil. Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 20 Feb. 2024 It was made clear that my career trajectory was not mine to own. Kate Wieczorek, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024
Noun
The energy company operating in Dnipropetrovsk region, DTEK, said more than 1,000 miners were working underground when coal mines in the region lost power due to the strike. Andrew Carey, CNN, 22 Mar. 2024 Courtesy of National Institutes of Health Gouging a mine into the Earth is so 1924. Matt Simon, WIRED, 21 Mar. 2024 In the Donbas, a region of rolling hills dotted with coal mines and factories, Russia has been pressing along four lines of attack, seeking to exploit openings created by capturing Avdiivka. Maria Varenikova, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024 Specialist mine rescuers flew in from Russia’s coastal region and other Siberian regions to help dig through rubble and pump water out of the Pioneer gold mine in Eastern Siberia’s Amur region after a rock fall trapped the miners on Monday, Amur Governor Vasily Orlov wrote on Telegram. Stephen Sorace, Fox News, 20 Mar. 2024 In April 1940, the German army occupying the city looted the mine where Aleksandra’s father worked, capturing him along with other Polish officials. Livia Paccariè, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Mar. 2024 The Navy’s Marine Mammal Program has at various points tested a dozen marine mammals — including orcas, pilot whales and seals — for duties including mine detection and swimmer defense. Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024 Colombia’s government has already granted more than 900 titles to companies and individuals to exploit emerald mines. Astrid Suárez, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Mar. 2024 In French’s newest novel, The Hunter, Cal Hooper is back and again drawn, against his instincts and mine, into a scheme put on by Ardnakelty’s lads. Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024
Verb
Plus, Bitcoin’s upcoming halving event, where the reward for mining its transactions is cut in half, is expected to push the top cryptocurrency to new heights. Vinamrata Chaturvedi, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024 Wakely first struck a deal with Universal Music Group in 2018 to mine its library for projects. Michael Schneider, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024 Green used her decades of experience in industries from railroads to mining to decide which companies were apt to survive and which were likely to die when times were tough. Bywill Daniel, Fortune, 17 Mar. 2024 Mooney eagerly mines the trove of Y2K cultural references to shape a narrative fine-tuned to a particular millennial sensibility, but struggles to meet the very low demands of its internal logic. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2024 As the world's largest cryptocurrency, both in terms of trading volume and most mined, bitcoin is often looked to by financial analyst as a gauge of the overall health of the crypto industry. Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 4 Mar. 2024 The mine plan for the Zinc and Silver Zones is based on mining a total of 41.2 million tonnes grading 5.02% Zn, 17.3 g/t silver and 0.19% lead over a 21-year LOM using an NSR cut-off of US$60/t. Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Feb. 2024 Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri has mined her feminist activism as a design POV into retail gold since becoming its creative director in 2016. Roxanne Robinson, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 More Bitcoin is mined in the US than anywhere else in the world, a trend that has sparked legal battles over the impact energy-hungry crypto mines have on the power grid, nearby communities, and the environment. Justine Calma, The Verge, 27 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective and Pronoun

Middle English min, from Old English mīn — more at my

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *mina, probably of Celtic origin; akin to Welsh mwyn ore

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Pronoun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of mine was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near mine

Cite this Entry

“Mine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mine. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

mine

1 of 4 adjective
archaic
: my
used before a word beginning with a vowel or h or after a noun

mine

2 of 4 pronoun
ˈmīn
: my one : my ones

mine

3 of 4 noun
ˈmīn
1
: a pit or tunnel from which minerals (as coal, gold, or diamonds) are taken
2
: a deposit of ore
3
: an underground passage dug beneath an enemy position
4
: an explosive device placed in the ground or water and set to explode when disturbed
5
: a rich source
a mine of information

mine

4 of 4 verb
ˈmīn
mined; mining
1
: to dig or form mines under a place
2
: to obtain from a mine
mine coal
3
: to lay military mines in or under
mine a harbor
4
: to work in a mine
miner noun
Etymology

Adjective

Middle English min "my," from Old English mīn

Noun

Middle English mine "a pit or tunnel for digging out coal, gold, or diamonds," from early French mine (same meaning)

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