mine

1 of 4

adjective

ˈmīn 

: my

—used before a word beginning with a vowel or h

this treasure in mine arms

—William 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

: undermine

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

Synonyms

Noun

• argosy
• cornucopia
• gold mine
• mother lode
• treasure trove
• wellspring

Verb

• booby-trap

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

The Environmental Protection Agency descended on Libby after 1999 news reports of illnesses and deaths among mine workers and their families. —Amy Beth Hanson, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2024

Mining difficulty, a measure of computing power to mine Bitcoin, has swelled almost sixfold since the 2020 halving, according to a biweekly update from crypto-mining website btc.com. —David Pan, Fortune, 14 Apr. 2024

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

Phrases Containing mine

• anti-mine
• claymore mine
• gold mine
• land mine
• of mine
• run-of-mine
• run-of-the-mine
• someone's guess is as good as mine
• strip mine

Kids Definition

mine

1 of 4 adjective

(ˈ)mīn 

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)