mic

Abbreviation of microphone. Attested since 1961.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪk/
• Rhymes: -aɪk

mic (plural mics)

1. Alternative form of mike (“microphone”)
   • 1987, Eric B. & Rakim, I Know You Got Soul

     Picture a mic, the stage is empty

     A beat like this might tempt me

     To pose, show my rings and my fat gold chain

     Grab the mic like I'm on Soul Train

mic (third-person singular simple present mics, present participle micing or mic'ing, simple past and past participle miced or mic'ed)

1. Alternative form of mike

   If we add the drum kit, we'll have to mic the orchestra.

   • 2002, Darren Brown, Hunting Trophy Whitetails, page 167:

     At 11:00 am, Doug mics up with me on the radio, and I advise him to go back to camp to get a quad, that we have a monster down.

   • 2003, Sleazegrinder, Gigs from Hell: True Tales of Rock and Roll Gone Wrong, page 104:

     Imagine playing a venue the size of an aircraft hangar without your tiny amps miced up through the PA!

   • 2006, Sarah Davis, The guerilla guide to the music business, page 164:

     This lacks the gut-punch of miced-up bass but hopefully the player can rise to the challenge and give his or her take extra energy to make up for it.

   • 2007, Trev Wilkins, Access all areas: a real world guide to gigging and touring, page 101:

     Dynamics are used extensively for vocals, drums, and 'micing up' amplifiers such as guitar amps but they can be used for almost any application.

   • 2009, Francis Rumsey, Sound and Recording, page 51:

     but it is extremely useful in applications such as vocals, drums, and the micing-up of guitar amplifiers.

• mic up

• 2010, “On Language: How Should ‘Microphone’ be Abbreviated?”, in New York Times, July 29.

• CIM, ICM, IMC, MCI

• IPA^(key): /mʲɪc/

mic m

1. inflection of mac (“son”):
   1. vocative/genitive singular
   2. nominative/dative plural

From Vulgar Latin *miccus, from Ancient Greek μῑκκός (mīkkós, “small”). Compare Aromanian njic. Cf. also Sicilian nicu, Calabrian miccu, also Italian miccino. May also be related to Latin mīca (“crumb”); compare mică.

• IPA^(key): [mik]

mic m or n (feminine singular mică, plural mici)

1. little, small

• mare

• micșora
• mici
• mititel
• micuț

mic m (plural mici, feminine equivalent mică)

1. little boy, child, toddler, tyke, baby

• prunc, băiat

• IPA^(key): [miʰkʲ]

mic m

1. inflection of mac (“son”):
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative plural