mink

Etymology

From Late Middle English mynk (“fur of the European mink”), apparently from Swedish mink, mänk, menk (“stinking animal in Finland, mink”). Compare Danish mink (“mink”), Icelandic minkur (“mink”).

noun

1. (plural mink or minks) Any of various semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals in the Mustelinae subfamily, similar to weasels, with dark fur, native to Europe and America, of which two species in different genera are extant: the American mink (Neovison vison) and the European mink (Mustela lutreola).
   The Minx […] frequents the water like the Otter, and very much reſembles it in ſhape and color, but is leſs; will abide longer under the water than the muſk quaſh, muſk rat, or little beaver: […] 1771, Thomas Pennant, quoting John Bartram, “Otter”, in Synopsis of Quadrupeds, Chester, Cheshire: […] J. Monk, →OCLC, page 240
   [Friday 7.] I ſhot three brace of grouſe, and found a mink in one of the traps which I tailed yesterday. [Saturday 8.] The ſame trap caught another mink to-day. 1792, George Cartwright, “The First Voyage”, in A Journal of Transactions and Events, during a Residence of nearly Sixteen Years on the Coast of Labrador; […] In Three Volumes, volume I, Newark, Peterborough: Printed and sold by Allin and Ridge; […], →OCLC, page 33
   He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels. 1865, Henry David Thoreau, “The Sea and the Desert”, in Cape Cod, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 187
   The Mink, so highly valued for its fur, being an amphibious animal, is equally at home upon the land or in the water. […] The relentlessness with which trapping has been pursued has threatened, in some localities, the extermination of the Mink, and the legislature of at least one State has properly made it punishable by fine to kill a mink between the months of March and November following. 1873 March, O. S. Bayley, “Trapping the Mink”, in American Agriculturist: For the Farm, Garden, and Household, volume XXXII, number 3 (New Series; number 314 overall), New York, N.Y.: Orange Judd Company[…], →OCLC, page 93, column 1
   Scientists are wondering if otters might help control the mink. Otters live in the same habitats that American mink do. They like to be near water, just as mink do. They also eat the same foods that mink eat. 2008, Susan H. Gray, “Scrambled Eggs”, in American Mink (Animal Invaders), Ann Arbor, Mich.: Cherry Lake Publishing, page 26
2. (plural mink) The fur or pelt of a mink, used to make apparel.
   From Michaelmas 1739. to Michaelmas 1740. Skins. […] Mink at 2s. 4d. Elk at 8s. Deer at 2s. 7½ per Skin. 1749, “[Appendix.] Number X. An Account of the Amount of Sales Made by the Hudson’s Bay Company, Specifying the Several Articles, and the Average Price of Each Article, for Ten Years Last Past.”, in Report from the Committee Appointed to Inquire into the State and Condition of the Countries Adjoining to Hudson’s Bay, and of the Trade Carried on There, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 252
   H. H. Young, district manager, is the proud possessor of a fine mink fur, which he found in his hen house. The mink, while wearing the fur, visited Young's hen house once too often and was cornered there a few mornings ago. 1925 September, C. H. Edman, “Selma”, in Al C. Joy, editor, San Joaquin Power Magazine, volume VII, number 9, Fresno, Calif.: San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation, →OCLC, page 28
   There are, unfortunately, three kinds of minks: standard ranch minks, wild minks (that is, good wild minks, notably those from Labrador), and ranch mutation minks. Standard ranch minks are brown to black-brown and are the ones that wind up in $3,000-to-$5,000 coats. Labrador minks are dark blue-brown; coats made of them cost up to $20,000. Mutation minks come in many colors at prices that require courage to quote aloud. 3 December 1951, Robert Wallace, “It’s Usually Rabbit: For the Innocent Fur Shopper, Lost in a Jungle of ‘Mink-dyed Baltic Coneys,’ here is Some Timely Advice on How to Keep from Getting Skinned in the Salon”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 31, number 23, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 90 and 95
   I seem to be able to get SS officers to worry about me, millionaires to propose to me, and yet I am absolutely unable to present myself as the kind of person I am. I couldn't care less about mink coats or diamonds. Not for one moment do I consider marrying Mr. Rabinowitz. 1988, Edith Weisskopf-Joelson, “Emigration from Childhood”, in Father, Have I Kept My Promise?: Madness as Seen from Within, West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, page 11
3. (plural minks) An article of clothing made of mink.
   At one point, money was stolen from one of the bedrooms. […] Afte that, the family employees were often tested. [Katherine] Jackson would leave the alarm on the closet unarmed, the one in which she kept her minks, chinchillas, and other expensive furs. 2010, J[ohn] Randy Taraborrelli, “Son vs. Father”, in Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, updated paperback edition, London: Pan Books, part 5, page 255
   He had noticed Marilyn putting a flask into the coat of her mink after she talked to the Gent, and he was sure there had been nothing in the pockets earlier, when he helped her into it before she sang "Happy Birthday." 2014, Anna Godbersen, “Chapter Thirty-six: Los Angeles, June 1962”, in The Blonde: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Weinstein Books, page 313
4. (Scotland, slang, derogatory) (plural minks) An individual with poor personal hygiene; a smelly person.