minds

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of mind.

   The debate forced both candidates to change a few minds in the audience.

   Years of training shaped the young recruits' minds for quick decisions.

   Note

   Every sense of the noun can be counted, so the plural follows all of them. It does its liveliest work in two places. With people who embody mental qualities, it gives phrases like the finest minds of a generation. With judgment and opinion, it gives the familiar change minds, where what shifts is a view, not an intellect.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of mind.

   Our neighbor minds the shop whenever the owner steps out.

   She rarely minds the long drive if the scenery is good.

   Note

   The -s form carries the verb's less familiar meanings as well as its everyday ones. Besides heeding or taking care, as when someone minds a shop, regional speech keeps mind as plain "remember," so he minds the old days can mean he recalls them. A dialectal use meaning "remind" is now obsolete. Only context, not form, tells these apart.

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