a mite

English

WOTD – 25 June 2019

Etymology

From a + mite (“minute arachnid of the order Acarina; anything very small, a minute object, a very little quantity or particle”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ə ˈmaɪt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [ə ˈmʌɪt]
• Rhymes: -aɪt

Adverb

a mite (not comparable)

1. (informal) To a small extent; in a small amount; rather.

   Synonyms: a bit, a little, a little bit, a tad, a smidgen

   Antonym: a lot

   • [1870], [Frederick William Robinson], “The Young Guardian”, in Owen:—A Waif (Select Library of Fiction), new edition, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (Battle-ground), page 117:

     "I hope Mary has been the best of girls?" / "The bestest little girl, Sir—a mite too lively, perhaps, especially when she hears you're coming to see her, […].["]

   • 1956, Janice Holt Giles, chapter 8, in Hannah Fowler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, →ISBN, page 69:

     "Silas, now," Esther Whitley had said, "would be a good one for you, Hannah. He's a mite on the old side, but he's steady, an' he's been wed before. He knows the ways of a woman better'n some."

   • 1959, Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance, Chicago, Ill.: Rand McNally, →OCLC; Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance (ReadHowYouWant Classics Library), EasyRead large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant, 2008, →ISBN, page 30:

     Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them.

   • 2018 November 29, Brian Taylor, “Brexit and sellers of fish”, in BBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 June 2019:

     Words, words, words, bemoans Hamlet, in conversation with the garrulous but inconsequential Polonius, whom he labels a "seller of fish". Given that the Prince of Denmark is himself legendary for vacillation and inaction, this always seemed a mite cheeky to me.

   • 2022 October 4, Jason Zinoman, “The ’90s Cartoon That Mattered? ‘Beavis and Butt-Head.’ (Fight Me.)”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     The new show’s look is a mite slicker and the comic situations are set up and executed better, including Episode 1 in which Beavis and Butt-Head mistake an escape room’s bathroom for the place they need to escape.

   • 2023 May 13, John Naughton, “A moment’s silence, please, for the death of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse”, in The Observer‎^[3], →ISSN:

     In those circumstances, you’d have thought someone who had just blown $36bn of his company’s money in the pursuit of a personal obsession would have been a mite apologetic, wouldn’t you?

Translations

to a small extent — see a little

Further reading

• “a mite”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “a mite” (US) / “a mite” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.

Anagrams

• MEATI, Matei, Matie, matie