Mean

Mean - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

MEAN, a. [L. communis, vulgus, minor and minuo.]

1. Wanting dignity; low in rank or birth; as a man of mean parentage,mean birth or origin.

2. Wanting dignity of mind; low minded; base; destitute of honor; spiritless.

Can you imagine I so mean could prove,

To save my life by changing of my love?

3. Contemptible; despicable.

The Roman legions and great Caesar found

Our fathers no mean foes.

4. Of little value; low in worth or estimation; worthy of little or no regard.

We fast, not to please men, nor to promote any mean worldly interest.

5. Of little value; humble; poor; as a mean abode; a mean dress.

MEAN, a. [L. medium, medius.]

1. Middle; at an equal distance from the extremes; as the means distance; the mean proportion between quantities; the mean ratio.

According to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly.

2. Intervening; intermediate; coming between; as in the mean time or while.

MEAN, n. The middle point or place; the middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium. Observe the golden mean.

There is a mean in all things.

But no authority of gods or men

Allow of any mean in poesy.

1. Intervening time; interval of time; interim; meantime.

And in the mean, vouchsafe her honorable tomb.

Here is an omission of time or while.

2. Measure; regulation. [Not in use.]

3. Instrument; that which is used to effect an object; the medium through which something is done.

The virtuous conversation of christians was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ.

In this sense, means, in the plural,is generally used, and often with a definitive and verb in the singular.

By this means he had them more at vantage.

A good character,when established, should not be rested on as an end, but employed as a means of doing good.

4. Means, in the plural, income, revenue, resources, substance or estate, considered as the instrument of effecting any purpose. He would have built a house, but he wanted means.

Your means are slender.

5. Instrument of action or performance.

By all means, without fail. Go, by all means.

By no means, not at all; certainly not; not in any degree.

The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so good as that on the other.

By no manner of means, by no means; not the least.

By any means, possibly; at all.

If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Phil 3.

Meantime

Meanwhile, in the intervening time. [In this use of these words there is an omission of in or in the; in the meantime.]

MEAN, v.t. pret. and pp. meant; pronounced ment. [L. mens; Eng.mind; L. intendo, propono.]

1. To have in the mind, view or contemplation; to intend.

What mean you by this service? Exo 12.

2. To intend; to purpose; to design, with reference to a future act.

Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it for good. Gen 1.

3. To signify; to indicate.

What mean these seven ewe lambs? Gen 21.

What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? 1 Sam 4.

Go ye, and learn what that meaneth-- Mat 9.

MEAN, v.i. To have thought or ideas; or to have meaning.

men: The noun "meaning" (Da 8:15 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "I sought to understand"; and 1Co 14:11) is synonymous with "signification" but in 1 Macc 15:4 the King James Version it expresses "purpose" (the Revised Version (British and American) "I am minded to land"). The noun "mean" in Hebrew always occurs in the plural, and is generally used in the sense of "agency," "instrument" (compare 1Ki 10:29, etc.). the Revised Version (British and American) very frequently changes, King James Version: The Wisdom of Solomon 8:13, "because of her"; 2Th 2:3, "in any wise"; Lu 8:36, "how"; Pr 6:26, "on account of"; Re 13:14, "by reason of" (compare also 2Th 3:16; Joh 9:21). Heb 9:15 (the King James Version "that by means of death") translates literally, "that a death having taken place," from ginomai, "to become," "to happen." Ac 18:21 the King James Version, "I must by all means keep this feast," is omitted in the Revised Version (British and American) in harmony with several cursives, the Vulgate, and some other versions

The adjective "mean" is used in the sense of "common," "humble" ('adham, "man"; compare Isa 2:9; 5:15; 31:8 omits "mean"). It is also used in the sense of "obscure" (Pr 22:29, chashokh, "obscure"; asemos, literally, "without a mark," "unknown," Ac 21:39). "Mean" is found in expressions like "in the meanwhile" (the King James Version 1Ki 18:45, the Revised Version (British and American) "little while"; Joh 4:31; Ro 2:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "one with another"); "in the meantime" (1 Macc 11:41 the King James Version; Lu 12:1); and "in the mean season" the King James Version (1 Macc 11:14; 15:15). The adverb "meanly" is found (2 Macc 15:38) in the sense of "moderately."

The verb "mean" expresses purpose (Isa 3:15; 10:7; Ge 50:20, etc.). In some cases the Revised Version (British and American) renders literal translation: Ac 27:2, "was about to sail" (the King James Version "meaning to sail"); compare Ac 21:13; 2Co 8:13. In other instances the idea of "to mean" is "to signify," "to denote" (1Sa 4:6; Ge 21:29; Mt 9:13, etc.). Lu 15:26 translates literally, "what these things might be." In Ex 12:26 the sense of "mean ye" is "to have in mind."

A. L. Breslich