M I N 
MIN 639 
minions of princes linked in confpiracies again!!: their 
mailer. L'EJlrange. 
Fall by her fide did fit the bold Sanfioy, 
Fit mate for fuch a mincing minion. Spenfer. 
Go rate thy minions; 
Becomes it thee to be thus bold in terms 
Before thy fovereign. Shukej'pcare's Henry VI. 
The drowfy tyrant, by his minions led, 
To regal rage devotes fome patriot’s head. Swift. 
MIN'ION, adj. \_mignon, Fr.] Trim; feat; dainty; 
fine ; elegant; pleating gentle. Huloet and Cotgrave .— On 
his minion harpe full well playe he can. Pleujaunte Pathe- 
waye. 
MIN'ION, J. [minium , Lat.] Vermillion. — Let them 
paint their faces with minion and cerule. Burton's Anat. 
of Met. p. 48 a. 
MIN'ION, f. A fort of cannon, or piece of ordnance, 
of which there were formerly two kinds, large and or¬ 
dinary ; anfwering to our fix-pounders. 
MIN'ION, s. [either from mignon, Fr. on account of its 
beauty, or minimus, Lat. from its small size.] The name of one 
of the various kinds of printing-types; of which this short ar¬ 
ticle is a specimen. 
MINTON, a fmall ifland in theftraits of Mozambique, 
near the weft coaft of Madagafcar. Lat. 12.40. S. Ion. 
49.32.E. 
MIN'IONING, f. [from minion.'] Kind treatment : 
Sooner hard fteel will melt with fouthern winds. 
Than woman vow’d to blulhlefs impudence. 
With fweet behaviour and foft minioning, 
Will turn from that where appetite is fixed. 
Marfton's Malcontent. 
MIN'IONLIKE, or Min'xonly, adv. Finely; daintily; 
affeitedly. Not in nfe .—Hitherto will our fparkful youth 
laugh at their great-grandfathers’ Englifli, who had more 
care to do well than to fpeak minionlike. Camden's Rem. 
MIN'IONSHIP, f. State of a favourite. Not in ufe .—• 
The favourite Luines ftrengtheneth himfelf more and 
more in his rrdnionjhip; but he is much murmured at, in 
regard the accefs of fuitors to him is fo difficult. Howell's 
Letters. 
MIN'IOUS, adj. [from minium. , Lat.] Of the colour of 
red lead or vermilion.—Some conceive, that the Red Sea 
receiveth a red and minious tinilure from fprings that fall 
into it. Brown.. 
To MIN'ISH, v. a. [from diminifk.~\ Toleffen; to lop ; 
to impair. — Ye fhall not minijh aught from your bricks of 
your daily talk. Exod.v. 19. — Another law was to bring 
in the filver of the realm to the mint, in making all dipt, 
minified, or impaired, coins of filver, not to be current in 
payments. Bacon's Henry VII. 
MIN'ISH, or Mynish, one of the many i(lands on the 
weft coaft of the county of Galway, Ireland. It belongs 
to the barony of Ballinahinch. 
MIN'ISINK, a town or rather village of America, in 
New Jerfey, in the north-weft corner of the ftate, and on 
the weft fide of Delaware river : fifty-feven miles north- 
weft of Brunfwick.—A townlhip of Orange county, New 
York ; containing 3594 inhabitants. 
MINIS'KA, a river of Silefia, which runs into the 
Oder ten miles fouth-eaft of Bredaw. 
MIN'ISTER, J'. [minijler, Lat. miniftre, Fr.] An agent; 
one who is employed to any end; one who ads not by 
any inherent authority, but under another.—You, whom 
virtue hath made the princefs of felicity, be not the mi¬ 
nijler of ruin. Sidney. 
Rumble thy belly full; fpit fire, fpout rain, 
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters ;. 
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindnefs : 
But yet I call you fervile minifters , 
That have with two pernicious daughters join’d 
Your high-engender’d battles ’gainft a head 
So old and white as this. Shakej'peare's King Lear. 
One who is employed in the adminiftration of govern¬ 
ment.—Kings mult be anfwerable to God ; but the mi- 
nifters to kings, whofe eyes, ears, and hands, they are, 
mult be anfwerable to God and man. Bacon. —One who 
ferves at the altar; one who performs facerdotal func¬ 
tions.-—The minifters of the gofpel are efpecially required 
to lhine as lights in the world, becaufe the diftinilion of 
their ftation renders their conduit more obfervable; and 
the.prefumption of their knowledge, and the dignity of 
their office, gives a peculiar force and authority to their 
example. Rogers. —Calidus contents himfelf with think¬ 
ing, that he never was a friend to hereticks and infidels ; 
that he has always been civil to the minijler of his parilh, 
and very often given fomething to the* charity-fchools. 
Law.—-If a minijler is difturbed in the execution of his 
office in the church, the punilhment upon convidion is a 
fine of iol. and, upon non-payment, three months’ im- 
prifonment,_ See. 2^3 Ed. VI. c. 1. And difturbing any 
licenfed diffenting minifter incurs a forfeiture of 20I. by 
1 W. & M. c. 18.—A delegate; an official: 
Let God revenge ; for I may never lift 
An angry arm againft his minijler. Shaliefpeare. 
An agent from a foreign power.—There are two kinds of 
foreign minifters. Minifters of the firft rank, who are alfo 
called ambaffadors and envoys extraordinary; and mi¬ 
nifters of the fecond rank, who are the ordinary refi- 
dents. Thofe of the firft rank have a reprefentative 
charader, which the others have not; though thefe laft 
arefometimes invefted with fuller powers than the former 
Chambers. 
To MIN'ISTER, v.a. To give; to fupply ; to afford. 
-—All the cuftoms of the Irilh would minifter occafion of 
a moft ample difeourfe of the original and antiquity of 
that people. Spenfer on Ireland.— Now he that minijtereth 
feed to the fower, both minifter bread for your food and 
multiply your feed fown. 2 Cor. ix. 
The wounded patient bears 
The artift’s hand that minifters the cure. Otway. 
To MIN'ISTER, v. n. To attend; to ferve in any office; 
At table Eve 
3 Iinfter'd naked, and their flowing cups 
With pleafant liquors crown’d. Milton. 
To give medicines : 
Can’ll thou not minifter to a mind difeas’d, 
Pluck from the memory a rooted fiorrow, 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain ? Shakefpeare , 
To give fupplies of things needful; to give afliftance ; to 
contribute ; to afford.—There is no truth which a man 
may more evidently make out than the exiftence of a God ; 
yet he that lhall content himfelf with things as they mi¬ 
nifter to our pleafures and paffions, and not make enquiry 
a little farther into their caules and ends, may live long 
without any notion of fuch a being. Locke. —To attend 
on the fervice of God.—Whether prophecy, let us pro- 
phefy according to the proportion of faith ; or miniftry, 
let us wait on our minijiring. Rom. xii. 7. 
MINISTERIAL, adj. Attendant; ailing at com¬ 
mand.—Unde rftan ding is in a man ; courage and vivacity 
in the lion ; fervice, and minifterial officiouinefs, in the ox. 
Brown. 
From effences unfeen, celeftial names, 
Enlightning fpirits, and minifterial flames, 
Lift we our reafon to that fovereign caufe. 
Who blefs’d the whole with life. Prior. 
Ailing under fuperior authority.—For the minifterial offi¬ 
cers in court, there mull be an eye unto them. Bacon. _- 
Abftinence, the apoftle determines, is of no other real 
value in religion, than as a minifterial caufe of moral ef- 
feils ; as it recalls us from the world, and gives a ferious 
turn to our thoughts. Rogers's Sermons , 
I but 
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