meanness

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mean1

▶verb (past and past part. meant)

• 1 intend to convey or refer to.

  ■ (of a word) have as its signification in the same language or its equivalent in another language.

  ■ (mean something to) be of a specified degree of importance to.

• 2 intend to occur or be the case.

  ■ (be meant to do something) be supposed to do something.

  ■ (often be meant for) design or destine for a particular purpose.

  ■ (mean something by) have as a motive or excuse in explanation.

• 3 have as a consequence or result.

– phrases
mean business be in earnest.
mean well have good intentions, but not always carry them out.

– origin OE mænan, of W. Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mean2

▶adjective

• 1 chiefly Brit. unwilling to give or share things, especially money.

• 2 unkind or unfair.

  ■ N. Amer. vicious or aggressive.

• 3 poor in quality and appearance.

  ■ (of a person's mental ability) inferior.

• 4 dated of low birth or social class.

• 5 informal excellent.

– phrases
no mean —— very good of its kind: it was no mean feat.

– derivatives
meanly adverb,
meanness noun.

– origin ME (orig. in the sense ‘common to two or more persons’), shortening of OE gemǣne, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
mean3

▶noun

• 1 (also arithmetic mean) the average of a set of quantities. See also geometric mean.

• 2 a condition, quality, or course of action equally removed from two opposite extremes.

▶adjective

• 1 calculated as a mean.

• 2 equally far from two extremes.

– origin ME: from OFr. meien, from L. medianus (see median).