minx

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German minsk (“wench, hussy”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪŋks/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋks

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

minx (plural minxes)

1. A pert, flirtatious or impudent young woman.
   • 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act 4, Scene 1

     This is some minx's token, and I must take out the work?

2. (obsolete) A female puppy; a pet dog.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nicholas Udall to this entry?)

Derived terms

• minxish

Translations

a pert, flirtatious or impudent young woman

• Cornish: flownen f
• Finnish: hupakko (fi), heilakka
• French: pimbêche (fr) f
• Hungarian: kacér lány
• Italian: civetta (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: お侠 (おきゃん, okyan)
• Portuguese: sirigaita (pt) f, coquete (pt), interesseira
• Russian: шалу́нья (ru) f (šalúnʹja), прока́зница (ru) f (prokáznica), дерзкая (derzkaja) девчо́нка (devčónka) (dérzkaja devčónka) f, (wanton) распу́тница (ru) f (raspútnica)
• Swedish: markatta c

Verb

minx (third-person singular simple present minxes, present participle minxing, simple past and past participle minxed)

1. To behave in a flirtatious and impudent manner.
   • 2001, Alan Bissett, Damage Land: New Scottish Gothic Fiction, →ISBN, page 60:

     Alison might have, if she hadn't minxed herself out of a job.

   • 2013, Norm Sibum, The Traymore Rooms: A Novel in Five Parts, →ISBN, page 261:

     Moonface minxed and flashed her red nails like a dancer, chameleon that she was.

   • 2014, Kelly Brook, Close Up, →ISBN:

     Sadly, I was the one minxing around, so I was inevitably going to meet a horrible death.

2. To make or become like a minx.
   • 2012, Explore Australia Publishing, Hide & Seek Melbourne 2, →ISBN:

     Whether you're sipping fine bubbly from a crystal flute while having your nails minxed, or soaking in a heavenly milk bath, a visit to Miss Fox is your ticket to forget your worries and simply indulge.

Synonyms

• (to behave in a flirtatious and impudent manner): See Thesaurus:harlotize

Etymology 2

See mink.

Noun

minx (plural minxes)

1. (obsolete) A mink.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “minx”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)