mints

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of mint.

   He offered everyone mints after the long dinner.

   Several national mints produce commemorative coins each year.

   Note

   One spelling covers very different nouns: the institutions that strike coins, the plants of the genus Mentha, and the sweets flavored with them. The plant, its flavoring and the color can all be uncountable, so the plural usually means separate items or kinds (after-dinner mints, the garden mints) rather than more of the substance. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, as in a mint mints coins.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of mint.

   The national bank mints commemorative coins for special anniversaries.

   This hydraulic press mints a fresh batch of medals every hour.

   Note

   A regular -s form that carries every sense of the verb, not only striking coins. Someone mints a phrase when they invent it, and a platform mints a crypto token when it creates one. In Scotland and Northern England it can also mean tries or takes aim, and in Scots it can mean hints. Only context separates it from the plural noun.

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