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Brit. /
m
n
n/, U.S. /mn(t)(
)n/ Forms: ME mencioun, ME mencioune, ME mencyoun, ME mencyoune, ME mencyun, ME mensioun, ME mensyon, ME mensyoun, ME-15 mencione, ME-15 mencyon, ME-15 mension, ME-15 mensione, ME-16 mencion, 15 mencon, 15 mentione, 15 mentioun, 15 mentyon, 15- mention; Sc. pre-17 mencione, pre-17 mencioun, pre-17 mencioune, pre-17 menschown, pre-17 menseon, pre-17 mension, pre-17 mensione, pre-17 mensioun, pre-17 mensioune, pre-17 mensyon, pre-17 mentioun, pre-17 mentyoun, pre-17 mentyown, pre-17 mentyowne, pre-17 17- mention, 19- mensjon (Shetland). [< Anglo-Norman mencion, menciun, mencioun, mension, mentiun and Old French, Middle French mencion (c1165), mention (1296; French mention) < classical Latin menti
n-, menti mention, cognate with Old Irish mitiu honour < the Indo-European base of classical Latin m
ns mind (see MENTAL adj.1) + a suffix forming nouns. Compare Spanish mención (1237), Italian menzione (1308), Portuguese menção (1342 as mençon).
The idiom to make mention of is after Anglo-Norman and Old French faire mencion, itself after classical Latin menti
nem facere to mention, allude.]
1. a. Originally: the action of calling to mind or commemorating something in speech or writing. Subsequently in more restricted sense: the action or an act of referring to, remarking upon, or introducing the name of a person or thing in spoken or written discourse, often incidentally and as not necessarily essential to the discussion.
Freq. in to make mention of (now somewhat formal except in negative constructions).
In quot. 1892 short for honourable mention: see HONOURABLE adj.
c1300 Vision St. Paul (Laud) in
Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1874)
52 37
e soules
at comez in
at prisoun, Of heom nis no mencion.
a1400 (
c1303)
R. MANNYNG Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 10495 Hyt
make mencyun of
e passyun As Ihesu Cryst to
de was doun.
c1400 (
c1378)
LANGLAND Piers Plowman (Laud) (1869) B.
X. 448 Dauyd maketh mencioun he spake amonges kynges.
1459 Draft Will of John Fastolf in
Paston Lett. (1904) III. 154 With a scripture aboute the stoon makynge mencion the day and yeer of hise obite.
1488 (
c1478) H
ARY Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.)
VII. 757 Mencione off Bruce is oft in Wallace buk.
c1500 (?
a1475)
Assembly of Gods (1896) 2055 Wherfore I toke pen..to make therof mencion.
1542 N. UDALL tr. Erasmus
Apophthegmes 76 He..maketh mencion and rehersall of diuerse the wandreynges of Ulysses.
1559 B
P. S
COT in J. Strype
Ann. Reformation I. App. vii. 15 Without any mencyon of their Conversation and Livinge.
1603 G. OWEN Descr. Penbrokshire (1892) 7 Doctor Powell..maketh mencion of an Ancient Author.
c1665 L. HUTCHINSON Life in
Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1973) 283, I have heard very honorable mention of him.
a1716 R. SOUTH Serm. (1727) V. i. 22 So that their Blood may rise, and their Heart may swell at the very mention of it.
1738 SWIFT Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. p. viii, I shall make honourable Mention of their Names in a short Preface.
1759 JOHNSON Idler 10 Mar. 73 He grows peevish at any mention of business.
1783 JOHNSON Let. 19 Apr. (1994) IV. 124 Having been..allured to the mention of myself, I shall give you a little of my story.
1849 T. B. M
ACAULAY Hist. Eng. I. iv. 482 The mention of their names excites the disgust and horror of all sects and parties.
1877 R. H. M
AJOR Discov. Prince Henry xii. 190 The Camaldolese geographer makes no mention of the sources from which he derived his information.
1891 T. R. LOUNSBURY Stud. Chaucer II. v. 236 It will explain the two mentions of Lollius in ‘Troilus and Cressida’.
1892 MRS. H. WARD David Grieve II. 248 ‘If I don't get my “mention”’, she would say passionately, ‘I tell you again it will be intrigue.’
1930 P. G. T
RENDELL Guide to Collection of Lace (Victoria & Albert Mus.) 6 In England there was frequent mention of ‘parchment lace’ in Queen Mary's reign.
1955 M. W
HEELER Still Digging (1958) 85, I was sitting with my colleagues at lunchtime on one of the walls of the partially excavated bath-building of which I have made mention.
1981 Times 29 Apr. 25/5 Favourable mention boosted Smith St Aubyn 6p to 196p.
1984 Broadcast 7 Dec. 50/3 Listener competitions are a popular hook for product mentions and promotional copy.
1994 Arena Sept. 16/1, I think Yuri Gagarin warranted a bit more of a mention than just a namecheck in a caption about Alan Shepard.
b. in the mention of: with reference to, apropos of. Obs.
1638 F. DU JON Painting of Ancients 149 There is in the mention of Picture a pretie tale divulged of Lepidus, who [etc.].
1674 MILTON Paradise Lost (ed 2) Argt. sig. X5, The Angel Michael continues from the Flood to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by degrees to explain, who [etc.].
c. of no mention: not worthy of mention, undistinguished. Obs. rare.
a1640 J. FLETCHER &
P. MASSINGER Prophetesse V. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher
Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ffff2
v/2, 'Tis true, I have been a Rascall, as you are, a fellow of no mention, nor no mark.
d. Mil. In full mention in dispatches. A commendatory reference made to a person in an official military dispatch.
1898 W. S. CHURCHILL in
Morning Post 6 Oct. 6/1 To the officer a gratuity, perhaps a ‘mention in despatches’.
1902 (
title) List of honours and rewards. Containing all mentions, honours, promotions, &c.
1915 A. M. N. LYONS Kitchener Chaps 81 No, sir, there's no particular cop about these ‘mentions’; only something for your pals to read.
1958 M. DICKENS Man Overboard iii. 35 Other people came out of the war with Mentions and worthwhile gongs.
1990 C. ALLEN Savage Wars of Peace (1991) 197 Sergeant Labalaba received a posthumous Mention in Despatches.
2. The action or process of bearing something in mind; consideration, attention. Also: recollection, remembrance. Obs.
c1390 Gregorius (Vernon) (1914) 195 Alle
at herden
is storie rede..And in herte taken heede
wi good Mencioun,
e pope
ha granted hem to mede And hundred dawes to pardoun.
c1425 LYDGATE Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A. 4)
IV. 1713
e first cause and purpos..Of
e Grekis
f e haue
menciounWas fully set.
3. A statement, a narrative; a record, a memorial; a memorial inscription. Obs.
a1470 MALORY Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 81 Kynge Arthure lette bury this knyght rychely, and made mencion on his tombe.
a1470 MALORY Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 791 Whan this ermyte had made this mencion he departed.
1543 (1464)
Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 176 Batayles greate and fell discencions, As Bede wryteth amonge his mencyons.
4. a. Brit. regional in later use. Indication, evidence; a vestige, trace, remnant.
1564 in J. L. Fisher
Medieval Farming Gloss. (1968) 23/1 Mension, Mention.
1567 in E. Bateson
Hist. Northumberland (1893) I. 352 West~warde by an old mencon of a dyke.
1567 in E. Bateson
Hist. Northumberland (1893) I. 352 Ye mencyon of an olde dike.
?a1600 Hodgson MS in
Northumberland Gloss. 475 The march..between England and Scotland..goeth by an old mension of a dycke called the Marche dyke.
1600 J. PORY tr. J. Leo
Geogr. Hist. Afr. I. 31 The verie trees are so drowned and ouerwhelmed therein [
sc. in snow], that it is not possible to finde any mention of them.
1601 P. HOLLAND tr. Pliny
Hist. World I. 110 The rest that Homer so much speaks of..there is no mention or token remaining of them.
1601 R. YARINGTON Two Lamentable Trag. E 2 b, Harke Rachel: I will..fling this middle mention of a man, Into some ditch...
Rach. Where haue you laide the legs and battered head?
1613 S. PURCHAS Pilgrimage 532 It [
sc. the earthquake] brought vp the Sea a great way vpon the maine Land, which is carried backe with it into the Sea, not leauing mention that there had beene Land.
1613 S. PURCHAS Pilgrimage 814 Scarce any mention of the houses remained.
1633 BP. J. HALL Plaine Explic. Hard Texts I. 161 Where he moves in the sea, he causeth a mention of his way in the waters.
1903 Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 89/1 Along the mencion of an old dyke.
b. Shetland. A particle, a fraction; a modicum, a small amount.
1891 J. J. H. BURGESS Rasmie's Büddie 11 An a yok for da slack o his breeks dan I mak, An taks him a hyst wi a mention o strent.
1898 J. J. H. BURGESS Tang 2 He was, as he used to say himself.., ‘jöst a mention aff o da plumb’.
1979 J. J. G
RAHAM Shetland Dict. (at cited word), If du's poorin me a dram jöst gie me a mention o rum i dis gless.
COMPOUNDS
mention-making n. Obs. the action or an act of mentioning something.
1534 T. MORE Treat. Passion in
Wks. 1292/1 These wordes..be the wordes of..three of the .iiii. euangelistes, which by the *mencion makynge of the Pascha..geue vs here..occasyon to speake of the poynte whiche I before towched.
1583 T. STOCKER tr.
Tragicall Hist. Ciuile Warres Lowe Countries I. 21 Without anye mention making of our mutual assurance.
1679 J. K
ID in G. Hickes
Spirit of Popery (1680) 5, I bless him,..that ever such a poor and obscure person as I am, should be thus priviledged by him for mentionmaking of his grace.
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