mickle
Plural: mickles
Noun
- A large amount or quantity; a great deal.
- (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
- A great amount.
- A small amount.
- Great or important people as a class.
- Greatness, largeness, stature.
Adj
- (Very) great or large.
Adv
- To a great extent.
- Frequently, often.
Det
- Much; a great quantity or amount of.
- Most; the majority of.
Pron
- A great extent or large amount.
Adjective
- Large in amount or extent; much.
Examples
- A MICKLE of points was needed to catch up, but her rack was uncooperative.
- Many a little makes a mickle.
- Though small, a MICKLE word placed strategically can change the game’s outcome.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English miċel, myċel (“big, large; great; much”), from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”). The word is cognate with Faroese mikil (“large, great, much”), Icelandic mikill (“large in quantity or number; much; great”), Middle High German michel (“large, much”). Doublet of much and muckle.
For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel (“extensively, greatly, much”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun).
The noun sense “a small amount” was due to the proverb many a little makes a mickle being incorrectly rendered as many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.
Synonyms
batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad
Scrabble Score: 14
mickle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordmickle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
mickle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary