meanest

1. 1
   adjective

   Superlative of mean.

   Of all her coworkers, he was easily the meanest to the new hires.

   They lived in the meanest cottage at the edge of the village.

   Note

   The top of the scale for an adjective with a wide range. The meanest cottage is the humblest or shabbiest, while the meanest coworker is the most low-minded or unkind. Context does the sorting: a dwelling or object points to poor quality, a person to poor character. In British use the meanest person may simply be the stingiest. The comparative is meaner. The same spelling also serves the archaic verb form used with thou.

2. 2
   verbarchaic

   Second-person singular simple present indicative of mean. Archaic, used with thou.

   Note

   A verb ending from the age of thou, with no connection to unkindness. The -est inflection marks the second person singular and appears only alongside thou: thou meanest to leave, whether thou meanest it in jest. Modern English drops both the pronoun and the ending and says you mean. Use it only in deliberate period voice, scripture-style pastiche or quotation, where it carries the verb's ordinary senses of intending or signifying.

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