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Minute definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MINU'TE, a. [L. minutus.]
1. Very small,little or slender; of very small bulk or size; small in consequence; as a minute grain of sand; a minute filament. The blood circulates through very minute vessels. Minute divisions of a subject often perplex the understanding. Minute details are tedious.
2. Attending to small things; critical; as minute observation.
MINUTE, n. min'it. [L. minutum, that is, a small portion.]
1. A small portion of time or duration, being the sixtieth part of an hour.
Since you are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.
2. In geometry, the sixtieth part of a degree of a circle.
3. In architecture, the sixtieth, but sometimes the thirtieth part of a module.
4. A space of time indefinitely small. I will be with you in a minute, or in a few minutes, that is, in a short time.
5. A short sketch of any agreement or other subject, taken in writing; a note to preserve the memory of any thing; as, to take minutes of a contract; to take minutes of a conversation or debate.
MINUTE, v.t. min'it. To set down a short sketch or note of any agreement or other subject in writing.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: infinitely or immeasurably small; "two minute whiplike threads of protoplasm"; "reduced to a microscopic scale" [syn: infinitesimal, minute]
2: characterized by painstaking care and detailed examination; "a minute inspection of the grounds"; "a narrow scrutiny"; "an exact and minute report" [syn: minute, narrow] n
1: a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour; "he ran a 4 minute mile" [syn: minute, min]
2: an indefinitely short time; "wait just a moment"; "in a mo"; "it only takes a minute"; "in just a bit" [syn: moment, mo, minute, second, bit]
3: a particular point in time; "the moment he arrived the party began" [syn: moment, minute, second, instant]
4: a unit of angular distance equal to a 60th of a degree [syn: minute, arcminute, minute of arc]
5: a short note; "the secretary keeps the minutes of the meeting"
6: distance measured by the time taken to cover it; "we live an hour from the airport"; "its just 10 minutes away" [syn: hour, minute]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin minuta, from Latin minutus small, from past participle of minuere to lessen — more at minor Date: 14th century 1. a. the 60th part of an hour of time ; 60 seconds b. the 60th part of a degree of angular measure 2. the distance one can traverse in a minute 3. a short space of time ; moment 4. a. a brief note (as of summary or recommendation) b. memorandum, draft c. plural the official record of the proceedings of a meeting II. transitive verb (minuted; minuting) Date: 1601 to make notes or a brief summary of III. adjective (minuter; -est) Etymology: Latin minutus Date: 1606 1. very small ; infinitesimal 2. of small importance ; trifling 3. marked by close attention to details Synonyms: see small, circumstantial • minuteness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 the sixtieth part of an hour. 2 a distance covered in one minute (twenty minutes from the station). 3 a a moment; an instant; a point of time (expecting her any minute; the train leaves in a minute). b (prec. by the) colloq. the present time (what are you doing at the minute?). c (foll. by clause) as soon as (call me the minute you get back). 4 the sixtieth part of an angular degree. 5 (in pl.) a brief summary of the proceedings at a meeting. 6 an official memorandum authorizing or recommending a course of action. --v.tr. 1 record (proceedings) in the minutes. 2 send the minutes to (a person). Phrases and idioms: just (or wait) a minute 1 a request to wait for a short time. 2 as a prelude to a query or objection. minute-gun a gun fired at intervals of a minute at funerals etc. minute hand the hand on a watch or clock which indicates minutes. minute steak a thin slice of steak to be cooked quickly. up to the minute completely up to date. Etymology: ME f. OF f. LL minuta (n.), f. fem. of minutus MINUTE(2): senses 1 & 4 of noun f. med.L pars minuta prima first minute part (cf. SECOND(2)): senses 5 & 6 perh. f. med.L minuta scriptura draft in small writing 2. adj. (minutest) 1 very small. 2 trifling, petty. 3 (of an inquiry, inquirer, etc.) accurate, detailed, precise. Derivatives: minutely adv. minuteness n. Etymology: ME f. L minutus past part. of minuere lessen

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Minute Mi*nute", a. [L. minutus, p. p. of minuere to lessen. See Minish, Minor, and cf. Menu, Minuet.] 1. Very small; little; tiny; fine; slight; slender; inconsiderable. ``Minute drops.'' --Milton. 2. Attentive to small things; paying attention to details; critical; particular; precise; as, a minute observer; minute observation. Syn: Little; diminutive; fine; critical; exact; circumstantial; particular; detailed. Usage: Minute, Circumstantial, Particular. A circumstantial account embraces all the leading events; a particular account includes each event and movement, though of but little importance; a minute account goes further still, and omits nothing as to person, time, place, adjuncts, etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Minute Min"ute, a. Of or pertaining to a minute or minutes; occurring at or marking successive minutes. Minute bell, a bell tolled at intervals of a minute, as to give notice of a death or a funeral. Minute book, a book in which written minutes are entered. Minute glass, a glass measuring a minute or minutes by the running of sand. Minute gun, a discharge of a cannon repeated every minute as a sign of distress or mourning. Minute hand, the long hand of a watch or clock, which makes the circuit of the dial in an hour, and marks the minutes.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Minute Min"ute (?; 277), n. [LL. minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. minutus small: cf. F. minute. See 4th Minute.] 1. The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. m.; as, 4 h. 30 m.) Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour. --Chaucer. 2. The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus ('); as, 10[deg] 20'). 3. A nautical or a geographic mile. 4. A coin; a half farthing. [Obs.] --Wyclif (Mark xii. 42) 5. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle. [Obs.] Minutes and circumstances of his passion. --Jer. Taylor. 6. A point of time; a moment. I go this minute to attend the king. --Dryden. 7. The memorandum; a record; a note to preserve the memory of anything; as, to take minutes of a contract; to take minutes of a conversation or debate. 8. (Arch.) A fixed part of a module. See Module. Note: Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Minute Min"ute, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Minuted; p. pr. & vb. n. Minuting.] To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of. The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance. --Bancroft.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

I. NOUN AND VERB USES (minutes, minuting, minuted) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. A minute is one of the sixty parts that an hour is divided into. People often say 'a minute' or 'minutes' when they mean a short length of time. The pizza will then take about twenty minutes to cook... Bye Mum, see you in a minute... Within minutes we realized our mistake. N-COUNT: oft num N 2. The minutes of a meeting are the written records of the things that are discussed or decided at it. He'd been reading the minutes of the last meeting. N-PLURAL: oft N of n 3. When someone minutes something that is discussed or decided at a meeting, they make a written record of it. You don't need to minute that. VERB: V n 4. see also up-to-the-minute 5. People often use expressions such as wait a minute or just a minute when they want to stop you doing or saying something. Wait a minute, folks, something is wrong here... Hey, just a minute! = hang on CONVENTION 6. If you say that something will or may happen at any minute or any minute now, you are emphasizing that it is likely to happen very soon. It looked as though it might rain at any minute... Any minute now, that phone is going to ring. PHRASE [emphasis] 7. If you say that you do not believe for a minute or for one minute that something is true, you are emphasizing that you do not believe that it is true. I don't believe for one minute she would have been scared... = for a moment PHRASE: with brd-neg, PHR with v [emphasis] 8. A last-minute action is one that is done at the latest time possible. She was doing some last-minute revision for her exams... He will probably wait until the last minute. PHRASE: PHR n, prep PHR 9. You use the expression the next minute or expressions such as 'one minute he was there, the next he was gone' to emphasize that something happens suddenly. The next minute my father came in... Jobs are there one minute, gone the next. = the next moment PHRASE [emphasis] 10. If you say that something happens the minute something else happens, you are emphasizing that it happens immediately after the other thing. The minute you do this, you'll lose control... PHRASE: PHR that [emphasis] 11. If you say that something must be done this minute, you are emphasizing that it must be done immediately. Anna, stop that. Sit down this minute. = now, immediately PHRASE [emphasis] II. ADJECTIVE USE (minutest) If you say that something is minute, you mean that it is very small. Only a minute amount is needed... The party was planned in the minutest detail. = tiny ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Little, slender, diminutive, fine, very small, tiny. 2. Circumstantial, particular, critical, precise, exact, detailed. II. n. 1. Sixtieth part of an hour, sixty seconds. 2. Sixtieth part of a degree. 3. Note, memorandum. III. v. a. Note, take a note of, jot down.

Moby Thesaurus

Lilliputian, absolute, abundant year, academic year, accurate, all the rage, annum, attentive, baby, back-burner, balance, balance the books, bantam, bell, bissextile year, bitsy, bitty, blow-by-blow, book, breath, breathing, calendar, calendar month, calendar year, capitalize, careful, carry, carry over, carve, cast up accounts, catalog, ceaseless, century, certain, chalk, chalk up, charge off, check in, chronicle, close, close out, close the books, common year, concrete, conscientious, constant, continuous, cool, correct, coup, crack, credit, critical, cut, day, debit, decade, decennary, decennium, defective year, defined, definite, delicate, demanding, detailed, determinate, different, diminutive, dinky, dispensable, distinct, distinguished, docket, document, double entry, engrave, enroll, enscroll, enter, entry, esoteric, especial, exact, exacting, exceptional, exigent, express, exquisite, extraordinary, fashionable, fateful moment, file, fill out, fine, finical, finicking, finicky, fiscal year, fixed, flash, fortnight, full, fussy, grave, half a jiffy, half a mo, half a second, half a shake, hep, hip, hot, hour, immaterial, impanel, in, in fashion, in style, in vogue, inappreciable, incessant, incise, inconsequential, inconsiderable, index, individual, inessential, inferior, infinitesimal, inner, inscribe, insert, insignificant, instant, interminable, interval, intimate, irrelevant, item, itemized, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, jiff, jiffy, jot down, journal, journalize, juncture, kairos, keep books, latest, leap year, least, light, list, little, log, lunar month, lunar year, lunation, luster, lustrum, make a memorandum, make a note, make an entry, make out, man-hour, mark down, matriculate, memorandum, mere, meticulous, micro, microscopic, microsecond, millennium, millisecond, mini, miniature, minor, minuscule, minutely, minutes, modern, moment, moment of truth, month, moon, narrow, negligible, newest, nice, nonessential, not vital, notation, note, note down, notes, noteworthy, now, particular, particularized, peewee, period, personal, petit, petty, picayune, piddling, pint-sized, place upon record, point, poll, post, post up, precise, precisianistic, precisionistic, pregnant moment, private, proceedings, psychological moment, punctilious, punctual, put down, put in writing, put on paper, put on tape, quarter, quinquennium, record, reduce to writing, refined, register, regular year, religious, respective, resume, rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, scrutinizing, season, sec, second, semester, session, set down, several, shake, sidereal year, single entry, singular, slight, small, small-beer, smart, solar year, solipsistic, space, span, special, specific, spell, split second, stage, stretch, strict, strike a balance, stroke, stylish, subtle, summary, sun, tabulate, take down, tape, tape-record, technical, teensy-weensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, term, the time, thorough, tick, time, time lag, time of day, time signal, tiniest, tiny, transactions, transcribe, transcript, trendy, trice, trifling, trimester, trivial, twelvemonth, twink, twinkle, twinkling, twitch, two shakes, unceasing, unessential, unimportant, unimpressive, unintermitted, uninterrupted, unnoteworthy, videotape, wee, week, weekday, while, wink, with it, write, write down, write in, write out, write up, year