mimp

English

Etymology

Imitative in origin.

Noun

mimp (plural mimps)

1. A pursing of the lips.
   • 1786, John Burgoyne, The Heiress. A Comedy in Five Acts, page 37:

     Sure you muſt have obſerved the drop of the under lip is exploded ſince Lady Simpermode broke a tooth—(Sets her mouth affectedly)—I am preparing the caſt of the lips for the enſuing winter—thus—It is to be call’d the Paphian mimp.

   • 1948, Gil Meynier, Stranger at the Door, page 12:

     The Paphian mimp was a certain pucker of the lips considered needful for the highly genteel.

   • 1973, Barry N. Schwartz, Human Connection and the New Media, page 170:

     My working hunch was that the very young leopard frog tadpole would make a near-perfect donor. […] While he’s little, he’ll mimp-mouth algae from the flanks of a tubifex and harm nothing but a little vermigrade pride.

Verb

mimp (third-person singular simple present mimps, present participle mimping, simple past and past participle mimped)

1. To purse one’s lips.
   • 1755, H. Woodward, The Comic Tunes and Songs in the Entertainment Call’d Proteus, or Harlequin in China:

     The Beaux alter’d Creatures,
     Now mimp up their Features,
     And trip it, and trip it ſo pretty; […]

   • 1788, Elizabeth Hervey, Melissa and Marcia; or the Sisters: a novel, volume 1, pages 61–62:

     When firſt ſhe emerged from retirement, it was natural ſhe ſhould feel ſhy and embarraſſed, which always appeared by a certain mimping with her mouth; afterwards ſhe thought it becoming , and improved upon it: It was ſo univerſally adopted by the young Ladies of the ton, that I think it incumbent on myſelf to give a particular account of this grace for the benefit of thoſe who have no opportunities of ſeeing it practiſed.

   • 1939, Bruce Lancaster, Guns of Burgoyne, page 160:

     By God, I c’n hear him, see him, too. Put on that pious look, mimp up his lips.

2. To act in an affectedly prim or dainty manner.

Anagrams

• MMPI