to mind the store
7
5.6
- phrasal verb
- US
:
cuidar la tienda
- Can you please mind the store while I run some errands?
- stay and mind the store
- need someone to mind the store
- continue to mind the store
And yet the banks which frankly were regulated, but nobody was minding the store clearly were the ones to blow up.
- And yet the banks which frankly were regulated, but nobody was minding the store clearly were the ones to blow up.
- In many cases, there's basically nobody minding the store, meaning that children in the environment are not kept safe.
Examples
-
He's supposed to be minding the store.
-
Willie, age 19, is minding the store.
Fiction book (2000) -
But duty calls, and I must mind the store.
-
If I have to stay and mind the store, then the store has to buy me dinner.
Fiction book (1993) -
But no one is minding the store.
Blog text (28) -
Who is minding the store?
Blog text (1) -
I'm minding the store until he gets back.
-
So who's minding the store?
-
But thank God I had my co-EP Alex Graves minding the store.
Blog text (11) -
"You're minding the store?"
Fiction book (1999)
Antonyms
How Responsible
∞
2.5
- US
7
5.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to take care of a shop' is directly and compositionally derived from 'mind' (to look after or be responsible for) + 'store' (shop); it follows a standard verb + noun literal pattern. This is everyday vocabulary and a common construction in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Mind the store comes from old shops where an owner told a helper to mind the store, with mind meaning 'watch' and store meaning the shop, so the helper kept customers and goods safe while the owner was away. That's why it now means 'to take care of a business or shop while the owner is away'.