mite

plural mites

1. Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acari (syn. Acarina).
2. A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.

   One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;

   1803, William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

3. A lepton, a small coin used in Judea in the time of Christ.
4. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
5. adverbialsometimesAnything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.

   a mite

   4 more examples

   It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing — and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did.

   1903 March 17, Mark Twain, letter to Helen Keller

   "Well," I says, "I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough." She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   "Silas, now," Esther Whitley had said, "would be a good one for you, Hannah. He's a mite on the old side, but he's steady, an' he's been wed before. He knows the ways of a woman better'n some."

   1956, Janice Holt Giles, chapter 8, in Hannah Fowler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, →ISBN, page 69

   Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them.

   1959, Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance, Chicago, Ill.: Rand McNally, →OCLC; Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance (ReadHowYouWant Classics Library), EasyRead large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant, 2008, →ISBN, page 30

   Synonyms: atom, speck, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel

6. colloquialoftenA small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.

   “Tom told me that, but twasn't your fault, the little mite just couldn't wait to be born that's all.” A small smile played on Leah's lips.

   2014, Lorraine F Elli, The Little Town Mouse

   1 more example

   Today's children at Christmas-time take a cast-off toy to the Toy Service held in many churches, and it is a pretty sight to watch those tiny mites clutching their toys and parting from them.j

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 35

   Synonyms: rogue, scamp, agitator, bad boy, bad news, bear, beggar, bhoy

1. pronunciation spellingEye dialect spelling of might.

1. A minor river in Cumbria, England, which joins the Cumbrian Esk and River Irt near Ravenglass.