minoradj.n.
/ˈmʌɪnə/, U.S. /ˈmaɪnər/ A. adj.
I. Lesser (in a relative sense).† 5. That constitutes the minority. Also (occasionally) in predicative use: in a minority. Obsolete.
1. Used chiefly as postmodifier.† b. Sister Minor n. Obsolete a nun of the Franciscan order of St Clare.
a. Friar Minor n. a Franciscan friar. Also †Minor Friar (obsolete).The plural is now Friars Minor; formerly Friar Minors, Friars Minors were common.
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society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > Franciscan > [noun]
Friar Minorc1230
Grey friara1350
minor?c1450
Sister Minor1473
Franciscan1534
Minorite1537
seraphic1680
seraphic friar1826
Minorist1836
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 36 Vre freres prechurs & ure freres meonurs beoð of swuch ordre þet al folc mahte wundrin ȝef ei of ham wende ehe towart te wude lehe.
c1300 St. Francis (Laud) 1 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 53 (MED) Seint Fraunceys, þe frere Menour..guod man was i-novȝ.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 10241 (MED) Þe ordre bigan of frere menors þulke sulue þer.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 188 So þere weren with vs ij worthi men, Frere Menoures [?a1425 Egerton frere meneours].
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 333/1 Menour frere, or frere menowre, minor.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. BBBvii Though the frere minour gyue great example of holynes,..yet [etc.].
1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) i. iii. 93 The Friers Minors onely, are esteemed to be 60 thousand.
1670 G. Havers tr. G. Leti Il Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa iii. i. 238 They elected Pietro Filardo, a Minor Fryer.
1737 R. Challoner Catholick Christian Instructed xviii. 183 St. Francis would have his Religious for Humility called Friars Minors.
1838 Penny Cycl. X. 446/1 The followers of St. Francis were called Franciscans, Grey, or Minor Friars.
1862 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 518/1 The Franciscans were properly denominated ‘Friars Minor’ (Fratres Minores).
1952 B. Smalley Study of Bible in Middle Ages vi. 264 The Friars Preacher opened their studium generale at St. Jacques, Paris, in 1229, the Friars Minor theirs in 1231.
1998 Scotsman 4 Apr. 16/3 From Blairs he joined the Franciscan Friars Minor, making First Profession in 1930.
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society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > Franciscan > [noun]
Friar Minorc1230
Grey friara1350
minor?c1450
Sister Minor1473
Franciscan1534
Minorite1537
seraphic1680
seraphic friar1826
Minorist1836
1473 Rolls of Parl. VI. 78 Any Graunte by us made unto the Abbas, Covent and Susters Minores withoute Algate of oure Citee of London.
2. As a distinguishing epithet of a proper name (usually as postmodifier).† a. = less adj. 1e. Only in (St) James (the) minor. Obsolete.† c. Entomology. In the names of certain moths, denoting a small species. See also minor shoulder-knot n. at Compounds 2. Obsolete.
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the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > low or subordinate > of two things of same name
lesseOE
lesser1440
minorc1500
c1500 Stations of Jerusalem 515 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 362/1 This was James þe mynoure.
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 205 St. James the Minor, first Patriarch of Jerusalem.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) Thus we say, St. James minor; Asia minor.
1907 Catholic Encycl. I. 626/2 The Apostles are distinguished one from the other by their respective emblems: St. Peter with a key, sometimes a fish..St. James Minor with a fuller's bat.
b. Esp. in British public schools: designating the younger of two pupils with the same surname, or the second to enter the school (abbreviated mi). Later more generally: designating the younger of two persons with the same surname. Abbreviated as mi (see mi adj.).
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the world > people > person > junior person > [adjective]
youngOE
youngerOE
puisne1565
minor1575
puny1579
junior1623
jun.1708
mi1791
Junr.1813
tertius1870
1575 W. Flower & R. Glover Visit. Northumb. in C. H. H. Blair Visit. North (1932) IV. 73 Henry Anderson minor.
?1593 H. Chettle Kind-harts Dreame sig. C2 He whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes minor, And he whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes maior.
1852 in C. Rowcroft Confessions of Etonian I. 71 A member of the fifth form, Green minor by name.
1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 108 I bet she will, when Corkey minor turns up.
1923 Manch. Guardian Weekly 10 Aug. 106/1 Smith Minor has been cruelly flogged by an avaricious head master.
1978 J. I. M. Stewart Full Term xxii. 250 Espionage..was a field that had sophisticated itself since the distant time when Patullo Minor..had enthralled his school-fellows with his hazardous escapades.
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1775 M. Harris Eng. Lepidoptera 9 Minor Beauty.
1869 E. Newman Illustr. Nat. Hist. Brit. Moths 398 The Minor Shoulder-knot (Epunda viminalis).
d. Surgery and Medicine. Designating or relating to surgery performed to treat conditions that are not immediately or potentially life-threatening, and that is relatively straightforward, involves little risk to the patient, and requires no (or very brief) hospitalization. Of an illness or injury: not life-threatening.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > [adjective] > types of surgery generally
minor1825
exploratory1828
plastic1837
electrosurgical1870
Listerian1880
open1894
neurosurgical1918
micro-operative1922
cosmetic1926
microsurgical1927
radiosurgical1928
atraumatic1934
psychosurgical1946
cryosurgical1962
1825 Lancet 24 Dec. 439/1 Another instance may, perhaps, serve to impress the importance of minor surgery, as it is sometimes called, more strongly upon your memory.
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xvii. 125/2 Minor Operating Instruments, a complete set.
1895 Catal. Surg. Instruments (Arnold & Sons) 45 Minor operation and hernia instruments.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 270/2 Nitrous oxide is largely used as an anaesthetic in minor operations.
1949 H. Bailey Demonstr. Physical Signs Clin. Surg. (ed. 11) xvi. 171 Paronychia is a comparatively minor infective lesion of the hand.
1991 Choice Mar. 28/1 A recent innovation is the use of arthroscopy for minor surgery, in some cases eliminating the need to open up the knee.
3.
a. Designating the lesser (in any sense) of two things, classes, etc., that have a common designation. Also applied to those members of a class that collectively form a subdivision regarded as being of lesser magnitude, status, etc., than the rest. Opposed to major.Not always distinguishable from sense A. 3b in those cases in which the corresponding ‘major’ thing, class, etc., is not explicitly mentioned.bob-, quint, tierce minor, etc. (in Campanology): see the first element.minor excommunication, orders, prophets: see the second element.
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the world > relative properties > kind or sort > [adjective] > major or minor (of a class)
minor1551
major1660
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Fviij Here we se thre proposicions, or sentences, whereof the first is called Maior, that is to saie, the proposicion at large. the seconde is called Minor, that is to saie, the seuerall proposicion. the thirde is called conclusio.
1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum 607 Dragons are of three sortes, Major, Minor, and Palustris.
1654 J. Trapp (title) A commentary..upon the xii minor prophets.
1683 J. Poyntz Present Prospect Tobago 29 The Brazil Tree... Brazilleto, is a Minor or Junior Brazil.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Orders The Petty, or Minor Orders, are four; viz. those of Porter, of exorcist, of reader, and of acolyth.
1819 J. Keats Let. 2 Jan. (1958) II. 26 It is my intention to wait a few years before I publish any minor poems.
1889 Harper's Mag. July 196/1 The beadles who preside over the candle stands that flicker in front of the major and minor iconostases.
1929 Daily Express 11 Jan. 2/2 If these minor roads were..strengthened and resurfaced in accordance with modern road practice [etc.].
1961 J. Stubblefield Davies's Introd. Palaeontol. (ed. 3) ix. 221 Instead of being in two series, major and minor, there are four series (cycles) of unequal length.
1990 C. Pellant Rocks, Minerals & Fossils 104 There are about half as many thin minor septa [in Clisiophyllum] as there are major septa.
b. More generally: relatively small or (now) esp. unimportant; not regarded as being among the most notable of a specified group of persons or things; of little significance or consequence.Use with reference to physical size now survives only in sense A. 2c.
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the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [adjective]
salec1299
bastarda1348
sorry1372
slight1393
shrewd1426
singlec1449
backc1450
soberc1450
lesser1464
silly?a1500
starven1546
mockado1577
subaltern1578
bastardly1583
wooden1592
starved1604
perishing1605
starveling1611
minor1612
starvy1647
potsherd1655
low1727
la-la1800
waif1824
lathen1843
one-eyed1843
snide1859
bobbery1873
jerkwater1877
low-grade1878
shoddy1882
tinhorn1886
jerk1893
cheapie1898
shaganappi1900
buckeye1906
reach-me-down1907
pissy1922
crappy1928
cruddy1935
el cheapo1967
pound shop1989
the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > small in quantity, amount, or degree
littleeOE
litec1175
smallc1325
somedealc1340
slight1530
diminutive1602
minor1612
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > of little importance or trivial > types of > other
minor1612
good-for-little1724
micrological1847
1612 in W. Mackay & G. S. Laing Rec. Inverness (1924) II. 88 Giff the pairtie be all landit gentillmen..And giff the dissobeyor be of a maner degree [etc.].
1632 S. Marmion Hollands Leaguer sig. D The Lord Philautus, and some minor Nobles, Whose names, I am loath should clog my memorie.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. xiii. 254 Petty errors and minor lapses. View more context for this quotation
1655 E. Elys Dia Poemata 47 If some Minor Critick Carps..His Heavy Censures Ile despise.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall iii. 38 Large and family urns, wherein the ashes of their nearest friends and kindred might successively be received..while their collateral memorials lay in minor vessels about them.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) iii. vii. §65. 551 The Troubles that fell upon the Minor Abhorrers.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xlv. 169 The minor critic, who hunts for blemishes.
1780 E. Burke Speech Oeconomical Reformation 32 Praying for judgment against the minor principalities.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 596 Three principal cross-rails..besides a minor-rail.
1860 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 745 A minor theatre.
1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times II. xxix. 387 The air was filled with the voices of minor singers.
1921 J. Galsworthy To Let 130 When June determined on anything, delicacy became a somewhat minor consideration.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 17 My mother..was the youngest of a large family, whose father at one time held some minor post in Dublin Castle.
1968 A. Diment Bang Bang Birds vii. 119 He knotted the tie, from a very minor public school, round his stiff collar.
1983 P. Levi Flutes of Autumn i. 12 An extremely minor poet who worked in the city.
4. Mathematics.† a. Designating the irrational difference between two irrational lengths with properties as described in the 76th proposition of the tenth book of Euclid's Elements (see quot. 1908). Cf. major adj. 6. Obsolete. rare.Only with reference to or in translations of Euclid's work.‘Irrational’ is used here in Euclid's sense: see irrational adj. 3.
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the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing relationships between quantities > other
incommensurable1557
minor1571
reflexive1903
biunique1941
dyadic1962
1571 T. Digges in L. Digges's Geom. Pract.: Pantometria ix. sig. Xivv The diameter of the comprehending sphere being a line rationall, the Icosaedrons side is a line irrationall, called of Euclide Minor.
1571 T. Digges in L. Digges's Geom. Pract.: Pantometria ix. sig. Yj The comprehending spheres diameter being rational, his conteyning circles semidiameter is an irrational of that kinde which Euclide calleth Minor.
1908 T. L. Heath tr. Euclid Elem. III. 163 If from a straight line there be subtracted a straight line which is incommensurable in square with the whole and with the whole makes the squares on them added together rational, but the rectangle contained by them medial, the remainder is irrational; and let it be called minor.
b. Designating the determinant of a square matrix obtained from a given matrix by deleting one or more of its rows and columns.Now usually as a noun: see sense B. 4b.
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1850 J. J. Sylvester in London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 37 365 Now conceive any one line and any one column to be struck out, we get..a square, one term less in breadth and depth than the original square; and by varying in every possible manner the selection of the line and column excluded, we obtain, supposing the original square to consist of n lines and n columns, n2 such minor squares, each of which will represent what I term a First Minor Determinant relative to the principal or complete determinant. Now suppose two lines and two columns struck out from the original square... These constitute what I term a system of Second Minor Determinants; and..we can form a system of rth minor determinants by the exclusion of r lines and r columns.
1922 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 44 273 There will be at least one κ-rowed minor determinant of S which contains (λ − r) exactly lκ times.
1985 Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 93 585 The coefficient..is simply an (n − 2) × (n − 2) minor determinant of (atJ).
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the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [adjective] > that constitutes the minority
minor1642
1642 King Charles I Answer to Printed Bk. 13 That the Minor part of the Lords might joyn with the Major part of the House of Commons.
1659 R. Baxter Key for Catholicks i. xx. 99 If a minor party..may step into the Tribunal, and pass sentence against the Catholick Church [etc.].
1774 T. Hutchinson Diary 3 Oct. A person had the major vote for Alderman... Another person..had the minor vote in the election.
1796 T. Jefferson Let. 17 Dec. in Writings (1903) IX. 351 There may be an equal division where I had supposed the republican vote would have been considerably minor.
1796 T. Jefferson Let. 27 Dec. in Writings (1903) IX. 354 In every other, the minor will be preferred by me to the major vote.
1855 U.S. Rev. July 70 Measures are too often decided, not according to..the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.
6. Music. Cf. major adj. 7.
a. Originally: (of an interval) that is the smaller, by a small fraction, of two differently derived versions of the same interval, as minor tone, minor semitone, minor third, etc. (now historical). Now usually: (of an interval) smaller by a semitone than the correlative major interval; chiefly in minor third, minor sixth, minor seventh (also minor second; occasionally minor fourth, minor fifth, now usually called diminished). Hence also: designating a note separated by a minor interval from the named note.In early use frequently as postmodifier.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > interval > [adjective] > minor
flat1597
lesser1610
minor1653
1653 Ld. Brouncker tr. R. Descartes Excellent Compend. Musick 30 A certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism.
1677 Ld. Guildford Philos. Ess. Musick 27 Neither Tone Major nor Tone Minor can be divided into sixteenths.
1694 W. Holder Treat. Harmony iv. 64 If A to B [sc. lengths of strings], be as 6 to 5, they sound a Trihemitone, or Third Minor.
1694 W. Holder Treat. Harmony iv. 66 4/ 5 sound a Third Major,..5/ 8 a Sixth Minor.
1694 W. Holder Treat. Harmony vi. 150 There are two Sorts of Tones; viz. Major, and Minor... Tone Minor (10 to 9)..is the Difference between Third Minor and Fourth.
1694 W. Holder Treat. Harmony vi. 185 7th. Minor..9 to 5.
1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 298 He [sc. Holder] makes great Ado about dividing Tones Major, Tones Minor, Dieses and Commas, with the Quantities of them.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Interval Trihemitone of the Greek Scale, or deficient third Minor, 32/27,..Third Minor, 6/5,..Trihemitone Major, 4096/3375.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 511 (note) Thus far we have only treated of fifths, fourths, thirds major and minor, in ascending.
1855 R. Browning Lovers' Quarrel xviii We shall have the word In a minor third There is none but the cuckoo knows.
1878 W. H. Stone Sci. Basis Music v. §83 25/ 24 = Minor Semitone.
?1905 G. F. Goodchild & C. F. Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 434/2 There is also a flute in E♭..which transposes a minor third higher.
1983 Peter Grimes; Gloriana (Eng. National Opera Guide) (BNC) 23 There is no mistaking..the thrill of fear in his fugue theme ‘Now the flood tide’, with its opening minor second.
1994 Keyboard Player Sept. 38/1 The third..will be either a major third or a minor third depending whether the chord that you're accompanying has a major or minor tonality.
b. Of a key or mode: in which the scale has a minor third (and often also a minor sixth and a minor seventh). Also: (of a scale, melody, etc.) consisting of notes in a minor key.In naming a key minor follows the letter, as A minor.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [adjective] > tonality > minor key
flat1597
minore1740
minor1772
1772 W. Jones Ess. Imit. Arts in Poems 209 The minor mode of D is tender.
1776 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music I. 19 All the ancient modes were in what we should call minor keys.
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music at Key The natural keys of C major, and A minor.
1848 E. F. Rimbault First Bk. Pianoforte 37 A piece with the same signature may be written either in a Major or a Minor mode, according to the position of the Key-note.
1886 Littell's Living Age 31 July 318/1 There are only two per cent. of minor tunes amongst their [sc. the Germans'] Volkslieder.
1889 E. Prout Harmony (ed. 10) vii. §171 This form is known as the Harmonic Minor Scale, the other two being called Melodic Minor Scales.
1915 W. Cather Song of Lark vi. x. 469 The pianist began a lovely melody in the first movement of the Beethoven D minor sonata.
1951 C. McCullers in H. Brickell O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951 200 The first voice of the fugue that Elizabeth had played..came to him, inverted mockingly and in a minor key.
1988 P. Manuel Pop. Musics Non-Western World iv. 132 Some of the dozen or so dromoi in use resemble Western major and minor scales, or the Mixolydian and Dorian modes.
c. Early Music. In the perfect and imperfect modes: designating or relating to the relationship between the long and the breve, as opposed to that between the large and the long. Also: designating or relating to that type of prolation in which there is an equivalence of two minims to a semibreve (cf. imperfect adj. 5).
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > proportion of notes or rhythm > [adjective] > types of proportion
proportionate?a1505
imperfectc1570
perfect1588
retorted1597
retortive1597
imperfectible1609
major?1779
minor?1779
?1779 W. Waring tr. J.-J. Rousseau Compl. Dict. Music 243 The minor perfect mode was marked by one single line which crossed three spaces, and the longue was equal to three breves... The minor imperfect mode was marked by a line which crossed two spaces only, and its longue was equal only to two breves.
1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. at Mensurable Division..of the long into breves [was called] minor mode;..of the semibreve into minims, prolation (added later, and sometimes confusingly called major or minor, instead of ‘perfect’ or ‘imperfect’).
1957 C. Parrish Notation Medieval Mus. vi. 144 The prolation was..indicated by two dots..for the minor [prolation].
1969 Computers & Humanities 4 45 Josquin works in minor prolation—that is, works in which the signature indicates that a semibreve is equal to two minims.
1984 O. B. Ellsworthy tr. Berkeley Manuscript 151 There are also two types of modus—perfect and imperfect. Each of these is also of two types—major and minor... ‘Minor’ is taken with respect to the relationship of longae to breves.
d. Of a common chord or triad: containing a minor third between the root and the second note.In early use as postmodifier.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > chord > [adjective] > other chords
minor1797
submediant1889
diminished chord1949
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 512/2 The first are called perfect chords major, the second perfect chords minor.
1843 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Mar. 273/2 The first chorus: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’, with its dark minor chords, brings threatening clouds over us.
1880 E. Gurney Power of Sound 271 Modern harmonists are unwilling to acknowledge that the minor triad is less consonant than the major.
1898 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 27 443 In the music of the song..the melodic phrase passes through three related minor chords.
1948 Amer. Math. Monthly 55 545 After harmony was introduced into music during the late Middle Ages, major and minor triads emerged as the principal chords.
1991 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Aug. 46/1 The theremin wails and minor chords of a Miklos Rozsa score.
e. In figurative context, esp. with reference to the sombre, plaintive, or subdued effect associated with minor chords and keys.
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1820 J. Severn in J. Keats Lett. (1958) II. 342 Here I must change to a Minor Key—Miss C fainted..I was very ill..Keats assended his bed.
1825 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 23 The bard sets off in a most brilliant bravura style; and when he comes to the tricolored flag..sinks into a charming minor key of pathos and sentiment.
1878 H. James Watch & Ward viii. 168 ‘It would simplify matters vastly; it's at least worth thinking of,’ he went on, pleading for very tenderness, in this pitiful minor key.
1900 Daily News 17 Oct. 4/7 Mr Carvell Williams's address..was pitched in a painfully minor mode.
1940 I. Berlin Compl. Lyrics (2001) 371/2 My dreams were over, And ev'rybody knew but me. We were in a minor key, We were bound to disagree.
1995 Independent 23 Oct. 3/4 He was a moralist in a minor key, more concerned that people should say ‘tinned peaches’ and not ‘tin peaches’, than that they should worry about nuclear disarmament.
II. Small, young, etc. (in an absolute, as opposed to a relative, sense).
7. Of less than full age; below the age of majority. Now chiefly South African, South Asian, and in Law. [The classical Latin phrase minor annīs (lit. ‘lesser or younger in years’, hence ‘below the age of majority’) occurs earlier in English contexts in Scots sources from the beginning of the 16th cent.: see Dict. Older Sc. Tongue s.v.]
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the world > people > person > child > [adjective] > minor
within agec1400
of nonage1418
meindre age1443
minor1552
nonaged1601
under-age1978
1552 in Archaeol. & Hist. Coll. County of Renfrew (1885) I. 49 The said Johne is mynor and of his les aige and may nocht [etc.].
1579–80 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1880) 1st Ser. III. 272 We, being yit minor, within the aige of fourtene yeiris..annull all the saidis infeftmentis.
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione at Homagium [Homage] sulde be maid bi the vassall being minor, or maior, to his ouer-lorde.
1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 145 At which time neuerthelesse the King was Minor.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall ii. 22 Many..were persons of minor age, or women.
1754–62 D. Hume Hist. Eng. I. xiv. 351 A wife..had made her minor son an instrument in this unnatural treatment of his father.
1818 H. Hallam View Europe Middle Ages II. viii. 131 The public security..was thought incompatible with a minor king.
1846 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 II. x. 431 A regard for the interests of the minor Raja.
1918 Act 8 & 9 Geo. V c. 38 §1 The nationality of the wife and minor children of the person whose certificate is revoked.
1961 G. Wille Law of Mortgage & Pledge S. Afr. 44 A kinderbewijs is the security given by a surviving parent for the portion of inheritance retained by him or her and belonging to the minor children.
1992 Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) 6 Sept. (New Delhi ed.) (Colour Mag.) 2/7 Many..had married off their minor daughters to aged Arabs and seen no harm in it.
B. n.† 8. In British public schools: the younger brother of a pupil at the school. Obsolete. rare.
1. Now usually in form Minor. A Franciscan friar. Cf. sense A. 1a.† Minor-Observantine n. Obsolete = Observantine n.
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society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > Franciscan > [noun] > Observant(strict)
observant1474
Observantine1611
Minor-Observantine1762
Observantist1865
c1330 in T. Wright Polit. Songs Eng. (1839) 331 Menour and Jacobin, And freres of the Carme and of Seint Austin.
?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 155 Hail be ȝe, gilmins, wiþ ȝur blake gunes!.. Menur wiþ oute and prechur wiþ inne.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) ii. l. 8073 To Dounfres suld he come vnto þe Minours Kirke.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 10520 He..to þe menours ordre went.
a1500 Trental St. Gregory (Adv.) 11 in Anglia (1891) 13 303 (MED) To mynour ne to frere Austyn..Ho durst not schow hor yvel warke.
a1563 J. Bale King Johan (1969) i. 444 Iacobytes, Mynors, Whyght Carmes and Augustynis.
a1632 in C. Plummer Elizabethan Oxf. (1887) 75 The Dominican or Black Preaching Friers, the Mynors of the Order of St. Frances.
1700 J. Tyrrell Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 882 The Preaching Friars and Minors exhorted him.
1762 Ann. Reg. 1761 146 In the neighbourhood of Bagni..three convents of the brothers of Minor-observantins of the order of St. Francis.
1839 K. H. Digby Mores Catholici IX. iii. 84 There preached brother Aloysius de Scalve of the order of Minors.
1995 Boston Herald 25 Oct. 52/4 Brother Hyacinth Wenz of Boston, who served in the Franciscan Minors in South America, died Sunday at St. Anthony Residence.
2. Logic. A minor term or premise.
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society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > Franciscan > [noun]
Friar Minorc1230
Grey friara1350
minor?c1450
Sister Minor1473
Franciscan1534
Minorite1537
seraphic1680
seraphic friar1826
Minorist1836
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > [noun] > premise(s) > minor premise
minor?c1450
minor proposition1581
assumption1588
subsumption1600
suppositum1615
minor premise1728
reason1826
?c1450 (?a1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 382 Gabriel schal blow his horne or þai han preuyd þe mynor.
?1541 M. Coverdale Confut. Standish sig. gviij Of an euell Maior and Minor foloweth a weake conclusion.
1656 Hectors v. ii. 56 La. Thus I will prove it: You came in with money in your purses, but this money you have lost..therefore you are fools. Had. I deny your Minor, for I say, they have not lost it, but have..been cozen'd of it, therefore they are not fools.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. vii. 229 All Animals have sense: but a Dog is an Animal: Here it [sc. but] signifies little more, but that the latter Proposition is joined to the former, as the Minor of a Syllogism.
1711 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 175 The minor, or the assumption, is uncontroulable.
1840 T. B. Macaulay Ld. Clive in Ess. (1903) II. 463 Here the Commons stopped. They had voted the major and minor of Burgoyne's syllogism; but they shrank from drawing the logical conclusion.
1867 Atlantic Monthly Apr. 454/1 Repeating barbarous scholastic formulas or mechanically tacking together empty majors and minors.
1909 W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) viii. 186 The major premise is: ‘Any spirit-revelation must be romantic.’ The minor of the spiritist is: ‘This is romantic’; that of the Huxleyan is: ‘this is dingy twaddle.’
1972 I. M. Copi Introd. Logic (ed. 4) vi. §4. 20 The fallacy of Illicit Process of the Minor Term (more briefly called the Illicit Minor).
3. A person who has not yet attained full age or (in extended use) a specified age. Also figurative. Cf. infant n.1 2.In Scots Law strictly applied to those over the legal age of puberty, a person below this age being termed a pupil (see pupil n.1 1); these divisions were abolished by statute in 1986.
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the world > people > person > child > [noun] > minor
pupilc1384
ward1433
minor1526
infanta1535
jail-bait1934
1526 Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes XXXVI. f. 46 In the making of the indentouris with the mynouris.
1612 J. Davies Discouerie Causes Ireland 88 King Richard the second..for the first tenne yeares of his raigne, was a Minor.
c1680 W. Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 35 Our christian being thus confirmed he is now looked upon in the eye of the church as no longer a minor.
1702 W. Penn More Fruits of Solitude §262. 95 Those Higher Ranks of Men are but the Trustees of Heaven for the Benefit of lesser Mortals, who, as Minors, are intituled to all their Care and Provision.
1722 W. Forbes Institutes I. i. 22 After the Years of Pupillarity are run out those who were formerly uinder the Conduct of Tutors, change the Name of Pupils for that of Minors.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 241 My uncle then gave him to understand, that I was still a minor.
1844 R. W. Emerson Ess. 2nd Ser. i. 6 I know not how it is that we need an interpreter; but the great majority of men seem to be minors, who have not yet come into possession of their own, or mutes.
1892 G. R. Gillespie tr. L. von Bar Theory & Pract. Private Internat. Law 312 A Dutch minor, who is by the law of Belgium major, cannot dispose of his real property in Belgium without [etc.].
1927 W. M. Gloag & R. C. Henderson Introd. Law Scotl. 47 The grounds on which contracts by a minor may be avoided are minority and lesion [etc.].
1986 R. Narayan Talkative Men 69 She is a minor and it cannot be a valid marriage.
2000 Pop. Sci. Aug. 11/1 The viewing of online pornography by minors was addressed by the Child Online Protection Act.
4. Mathematics.† a. A number that is to be subtracted from another; = subtrahend n. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [noun] > subtraction > subtrahend or minuend
minor1612
subtracter1645
minorand1674
subducend1674
subtrahend1685
subtract1690
minuend1706
substrahend1707
substractor1718
substrahend1718
subtractor1724
subtrahend1724
1612 W. Colson Art Arith. in Gen. Treasury B bb 2 b Of Substraction... The first number is to be called the Maior, grosse sum, sum total, or superior number... The second is named the Minor... The third is called the Remainer.
b. The determinant of a square matrix obtained from a given matrix by deleting one or more rows and columns. Cf. sense A. 4b.
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1850 J. J. Sylvester in London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 37 366 The whole of a system of rth minors being zero.
1850 J. J. Sylvester in London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 37 366 We shall have only to deal with a system of first minors.
1867 C. L. Dodgson Elem. Treat. Determinants 12 The determinantal coefficient of any Element of a square Block is the Determinant of its complemental Minor.
1914 H. Hilton Homogeneous Linear Substitutions ii. 50 Suppose that..the determinant itself and all the 1st, 2nd,.., (m − r − 1)-th minors vanish, but that not all the (m − r)-th minors vanish. Then the determinant is said to be of rank r.
1986 C. W. Norman Undergraduate Algebra ix. 315 Let A be a non-zero matrix of rank r over a field. Then A has a non-zero r-minor and all s-minors of A are zero for s > r.
5. Music.† b. In figurative or allusive use (cf. sense A. 6e). Obsolete.
a. A minor interval, key, mode, or scale (see sense A. 6).
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [noun] > key > minor key
minor1797
1724 Short Explic. Foreign Words Musick Bks. 46 Minore, a Minor or lesser, a Term in Musick.]
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 547 (note) Such a piece is..upon A, with mi, la, and its minor.
1841 J. Jebb Lect. Cathedral Serv. ii. 15 A judicious use of the swell and a change from major to minor in the course of the Psalm.
1844 E. B. Barrett Drama of Exile in Poems I. 109 Floated on a minor fine Into the full chant divine.
1910 J. Addams Twenty Years at Hull-House xi. 233 Our guests sang a great deal in the tender minor of the German folksong.
1944 C. Porter Ev'ry Time we say Goodbye (song) 5 How strange the change from major to minor.
1989 Guitar Player Mar. 39/1 (advt.) Now you can generate..harmonies in 41 different scales. From natural minors and chromatics to Phrygian and Mixolydian.
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1844 E. B. Barrett Poems I. 329 The strain unfolds In sad, perplexed minors.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country i. 19 Over this sample would Corelli croon, Grieving, by minors, like the cushat-dove.
6. gen. A minor work, company, sporting competition, etc.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun] > regarded as the result of labour > small or minor
opusculec1530
opuscle1534
urchin1589
opusculum1624
minor1821
parergon1928
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > a theatre > [noun] > other types of theatre
little theatre1569
private house1604
private playhouse1609
amphitheatre1611
private theatre1633
droll-house1705
summer theatre1761
show shop1772
national theatre1816
minor1821
legitimate1826
patent house1827
patent theatre1836
showboat1839
music theatre1849
penny-gaff1856
saloon theatre1864
leg shop1871
people's theatre1873
nickelodeon1888
repertory theatre1891
studio theatre1891
legit1897
blood-tub1906
rep1906
small-timer1910
grind house1923
theatrette1927
indie1928
vaude1933
straw hat1935
theatre-in-the-round1948
straw-hatter1949
bughouse1952
theatre-restaurant1958
dinner theatre1959
theatre club1961
black box1971
pub theatre1971
performance space1972
1821 P. Egan Real Life in London I. vi. 92 Mr Gloss'em, who is a shining character in the theatrical world, at least among the minors [sc. minor theatres] of the metropolis.
1837 T. Hook Jack Brag III. ii. 52 She is engaged at one of the Minors, and calls herself, in the bills, Roseville.
a1849 H. Coleridge Ess. & Marginalia (1851) II. 153 Why is this play set down among Shakspeare's minors?
1870 Atlantic Monthly Mar. 299/1 Many years back, when known as the Queen's Theatre, it achieved notoriety by fighting the battle of minors against the majors by the production of the tragedies of Shakespeare.
1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Jan. 1/2 The vast galleries of the patented theatres and the cramped benches of the ‘minors’ were thronged with a new audience.
1974 ITV 1974 10/2 The [Independent Television] Authority..created a system made up of several large so-called ‘network companies’ (sometimes also called the ‘majors’) and a number of smaller ‘regional companies’ (sometimes called the ‘minors’).
1986 Golf Monthly July 93/4 He hasn't..won a minor of any description since the 1984 Western Open.
7. Any of various small Eurasian noctuid moths, chiefly of the genera Oligia and Mesoligia. Usually with distinguishing word.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Caradrinidae > member of genus Miana
minor1843
1843 H. N. Humphreys & J. O. Westwood Brit. Moths I. 179 Miana literosa (the rosy minor). Miana strigilis (the marbled minor).
1862 F. O. Morris Nat. Hist. Brit. Moths II. 115 (heading) Miana strigilis: Marked Minor.
1907 R. South Moths Brit. Isles 1st Ser. 277 The Cloaked Minor (Miana bicoloria).
1967 E. B. Ford Moths (ed. 2) xi. 166 This [sc. the Burren] is also the Irish locality for the Least Minor, Phothedes captiuncula.
1984 B. Skinner Moths Brit. Isles 130/1 Rufous Minor... Oligia versicolor... Widely distributed in England and Wales.
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the world > people > person > junior person > [noun]
youngestOE
youngerOE
youngerOE
juniora1530
young blood1557
puny1567
puisne1592
kid1690
minimus1848
baby1854
minor1864
1864 Eton School Days vii. 82 Let my minor pass, you fellows!.. Here, Chudleigh, just make room there.
9.
a. Rugby. = minor point n. at Compounds 2. Now historical and rare.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > scoring
touch1845
run-in1846
rouge1856
touchdown1856
touch-in-goal1869
try1870
minor1883
minor point1884
pot1888
major point1896
penalty try1922
conversion1927
pushover1940
1883 York Herald 5 Feb. 8/5 At half-time the score was—one goal, three tries, and four minors.
1890 Stratford on Avon Herald 24 Oct. 2/1 No other points being scored, the ‘good old second’ were left victorious by 1 try and 2 minors to 1 minor.
1896 Field 1 Feb. 171/3 The bid for goal led to a minor being conceded by the visitors.
1900 Western Mail 10 Dec. 7/6 Llandovery, three tries; Christ College (Brecon), two minors.
1903 Highland Light Infantry Chron. July 876/1 G Company ran out easy winners of a very poor game by three goals two minors, H Company only securing two minors.
1986 G. Hughes Scarlets 19 Newport..winning on the basis of minor points, scoring one try and four minors to Llanelli's one try..and two minors.
2009 T. Collins Social Hist. Eng. Rugby Union vi. 136 Typically these unofficial scoring systems awarded..single points, known as ‘minors’ against a side which touched the ball down behind its own goal-line, known by some as ‘rouges’, and to a side that managed to kick the ball over the dead-ball line.
b. Australian Rules Football. = behind n. 2a.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > Australian football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
free1859
handball1859
hand-balling1867
goal-kicking1871
handballing1883
behind1888
ball-up1890
minor1903
handpass1931
1903 Sporting News (Launceston, Tasmania) 16 May 4/4 Brown from a mark on the magazine wing put up the first minor.
1968 R. D. Eagleson & I. McKie Terminol. Austral. Nat. Football II. 22 (A) minor, a variant for behind.., recorded by three informants.
1981 L. Money Footy Fan's Handbk. 39 ‘Only a minor’, a behind.
c. Ice Hockey. = minor penalty n. at Compounds 2.
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1924 Gazette (Montreal) 30 Dec. 14/3 Penalties... First Period..all minors.
1958 Herald-Tribune (Grande Prairie, Alta) 11 Mar. 5/3 Jim Hudson of the Mustangs and Fluky Kjemhus both got minors for kneeing and tripping.
1988 Ice Hockey News Rev. 19 Nov. 20/1 The game..was almost penalty-free—six minutes being called against the Seahawks with just a couple of minors on the Knights.
10. Originally U.S. In a university, college, etc.: a subject or course of study secondary to one's main subject or course, and for which fewer credits are given. Hence: a qualification in this subject; a person studying such a course. Cf. major adj. 3.
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society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > major or minor subject
major1890
minor1890
1878 Johns Hopkins Univ. Ann. Rep. 23 He chose Latin and Greek as his major subjects; and for his minor subjects, History, Modern Languages and Biology.]
1890 in T. W. Goodspeed Hist. Univ. Chicago (1916) 142 The plan of majors and minors..has been arranged in order to meet this difficulty.
1919 Univ. Texas Bull. No. 1925. 105 The student will note that it is possible to arrange his minor...[so] as to take in effect two majors.
1926 Amer. Oxonian July 100 Oxford is a school for specialists. There are no minors, no electives, nothing but majors.
1948 Ada (Okla.) Evening News 2 July 6/2 Alliene Pryor-Smith..will graduate at East Central in July, with a major in history and a minor in sociology.
1985 New Yorker 2 Dec. 40/3 Mr. Corke..graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in 1958, with a first-class honors degree in geography and a minor in English.
11. U.S. Chiefly Baseball. A minor league. Usually in plural.
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society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [noun] > team or group > group of teams > minor
minor1890
pool1936
1890 Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 31 July 1/3 It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits.
1949 Newsweek 18 July 64/3 Manager Eddie Sawyer claims that..he'd like to be back in the minors.
1989 D. Semenko Looking Out Number One ii. 5 If they didn't think I could play in the NHL, they could send me down to the minors and pay me less money.
12. Bridge. A minor suit; (also) a card of a minor suit.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > types of card
card of re-entry1870
master card1872
singleton1876
entry1884
control1892
stopper1900
raiser1912
long card1913
loser1917
X1920
minor1927
top1929
side entry1937
penalty card1958
master1962
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > suits
major suit1913
minor suit1916
minor1927
1927 M. C. Work Contract Bridge ii. 11 Many find it easier to remember 20 for Minors, 30 for Majors and 35 for No Trump.
1958 Listener 4 Dec. 965/1 Which two aces?.. They are both of the same rank, i.e. both minors.
1983 T. Reese & D. Bird Bridge (1985) x. 109 2NT shows the minors.
Compounds
(See major adj. and n.1 Compounds for counterparts of many of those listed here.) C1.
minor-key adj.
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1949 D. C. Allen Legend of Noah i. 24 This only makes him an average citizen of the world, a sort of minor-key Hamlet or Faust.
1963 Listener 7 Feb. 264/3 It used dated features like Brahmsian minor-key themes.
minor-keyed adj.
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1869 T. W. Higginson Army Life (1870) 222 This minor-keyed pathos used to seem to me almost too sad to dwell upon.
1973 Harvard Jrnl. Asiatic Stud. 33 15 It would be inept to end a day's program with a minor-keyed Nō.
C2.
minor arcana n. [after French arcanes mineurs (1889)] (with plural agreement) the 56 suit cards in a tarot pack, as distinguished from the trumps (cf. major arcana n. at major adj. and n.1 Compounds).
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1892 A. P. Morton tr. ‘Papus’ Tarot Bohemians v. 35 The Tarot is composed of 78 cards..56 cards called the minor arcana, 22 cards called the major arcana.
1931 J. C. Locke tr. É.-J. Grillot de Givry Witchcraft, Magic & Alchemy ii. vii. 282 Cartomancers divide their packs more elaborately into two series which they call the Major Arcana, numbering twenty-two cards, and the Minor Arcana, numbering fifty-six—or fity-two according to some conventions.
1990 L. Picknett Encycl. Paranormal 71/2 There are fifty-six unnumbered cards, known as the Minor Arcana, which are divided into four suits: Cups, Wards (also called Reds or Staves), Pentacles (or Coins) and Swords.
minor axis n. Geometry the shorter axis of an ellipse, which passes through its centre at right angles to the major axis.
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the world > relative properties > number > geometry > geometric space > [noun] > division or marking of > axis > passing through foci > perpendicular to
minor axis1862
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xi. §2557 The difference between major and minor axis being ·012 of an inch.
1947 H. D. Thompson Fund. Earth Sci. v. 52 Mollweide's Homalographic equal-area projection (1805) shows the entire surface of the earth inside an ellipse, the major, or equatorial axis of which is twice as long as the minor axis.
1989 W. Gellert et al. VNR Conc. Encycl. Math. (ed. 2) vii. 180 It is frequently sufficiently accurate to approximate an ellipse by circles whose radii are the radii of curvature at the end points of the major and minor axes.
minor county n. British Cricket a county whose representative team does not take part in the County Championship.
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1887 F. Gale Game of Cricket ix. v. 159 They [sc. the M.C.C.]..have extended their season for the purpose of playing county matches with what some people call ‘minor’ counties.
1998 Times 25 June 48/6 I knew that no minor county has beaten a first-class county batting second in a 60-over match.
minor element n. a chemical element that is present in relatively small or trace amounts; (Biology) = micronutrient n.
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1941 Ecology 22 401/1 The prairie soil was treated with various amount [sic] of mineral fertilizers including minor elements.
1948 Nature Mar. 365/2 A term for universal use to replace the numerous current expressions used by different workers, namely, ‘trace elements’, ‘trace nutrients’, ‘minor elements’, [etc.].
1991 Acta Metallurgica et Materialia 49 2759/1 The competition between microfracture and plastic flow was studied in relation to the thermomechanical processing parameters and minor element chemistry of super-ferritic alloys.
Minor Fellow n. [compare post-classical Latin Socius minor (1560)] now historical (at Trinity College, Cambridge) a fellow who has not yet proceeded to the degree of M.A.; a junior fellow.The distinction between major and minor fellows was abolished in 1860.
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1670 I. Walton Life G. Herbert 21 in Lives He was made Minor Fellow in the year 1609..Major Fellow of the Colledge, March 15, 1615.
1739 Bayle's Gen. Dict. Hist. & Crit. (new ed.) VIII. 692 In 1648, he [sc. John Ray] took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and on the 8th of September, 1649, was elećted one of the Minor-Fellows of the college, and about six months after one of the Major-Fellows.
1822 Case of Senior Graduate in Divinity among Fellows of Trinity Coll. Cambr. 6 In describing the way in which the Rooms are to be allotted, the 26th Statute does not divide the Fellows into Senior, Major, and Minor Fellows, but according to their Academic Degrees.
1901 Dict. National Biogr. Suppl. II. 226/2 He was admitted scholar [of Trinity College, Cambridge] 4 May 1832, minor fellow 2 Oct. 1835, major fellow 4 July 1837.
2010 M. Stokes Isaac Newton vi. 56 As a minor fellow, Newton would become a permanent fixture of the college..for it was only a matter of time..before they would receive their master of arts and, in the same stroke, become a major fellow of the college.
minor loyalty n. now rare adherence to an institution, church, trade union, or the like, which is subordinate to loyalty to one's country or its government.
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1908 Chinese Students' Monthly Nov. 43 In order to serve a great loyalty all minor loyalties must be surrendered; in order to serve a national loyalty all loyalties, great as well as small, personal as well as non-personal, must be surrendered.
1927 A. M. Carr-Saunders & D. C. Jones Surv. Social Struct. Eng. & Wales 83 To discuss the ‘minor loyalties’ which such associations create.
1969 V. Scudder in W. L. O'Neill Woman Movement xvii. 180 Professor Royce has well shown us that the aim of all minor loyalties is to bring us under the wing of that mother of all virtues, loyalty to the Whole.
minor penalty n. Ice Hockey a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for two minutes, unless the opposing team scores within this period.
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1925 Gazette (Montreal) 9 Dec. 16/1 Play had been fairly strenuous..with a plethora of minor penalties for unimportant tiffs.
1990 Maclean's 2 Apr. 58/3 Their match against Sweden included..21 minor penalties for such infractions as boarding, roughing and highsticking.
minor piece n. Chess a bishop or knight.
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1820 J. S. Bingham tr. D. L. Ponziani Incomparable Game of Chess i. ii. 26 Two minor Pieces, for a Rook and two Pawns, may be considered an equal contract.
1863 Handbk. Chess & Draughts 19 The Knight and Bishop, in contradistinction to the Rook and Queen, are termed minor pieces.
1993 New Scientist 4 Sept. 29/1 A third option is to manoeuvre your pieces..so that they are hovering near your opponent's king. One example of this strategy is the minor piece checkmate.
minor point n. Rugby (now historical and rare) a point or score awarded for successfully performing a particular manoeuvre, typically forcing the opposing team to ground the ball on or behind its own goal line. Cf. touch-in-goal n. 2, touchdown n. 1a(b).
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > [noun] > scoring
touch1845
run-in1846
rouge1856
touchdown1856
touch-in-goal1869
try1870
minor1883
minor point1884
pot1888
major point1896
penalty try1922
conversion1927
pushover1940
1884 Meteor 29 Nov. (Rugby School) 142/2 The Old Rugs won by seven tries and several minor points to nil.
1887 M. Shearman Athletics & Football (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 287 If, however, there is no chance of shooting a goal from mid-field, the player with the ball runs it down to the goal-line and takes it along the line towards the posts, and then makes his shot, or more frequently endeavours to secure a minor point, called a ‘rouge’.
1896 Field 1 Feb. 172/2 Ashford improving on the minor point by kicking a splendid goal.
1986 G. Hughes Scarlets 19 Newport..winning on the basis of minor points, scoring one try and four minors.
2009 T. Collins Social Hist. Eng. Rugby Union vi. 138 Minor points were not counted in the official scoring system.
minor premise n. (also minor premiss) Logic that premise of a syllogism which contains the minor term.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > [noun] > premise(s) > minor premise
minor?c1450
minor proposition1581
assumption1588
subsumption1600
suppositum1615
minor premise1728
reason1826
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Syllogism They [sc. the two propositions of a syllogism] are both called..Premises..and..both are called Antecedents, only the first the Major, and the latter the Minor.
1827 R. Whately Elements Logic (ed. 2) iii. 96 The proper order is to place the Major premiss first, and the Minor second; but this does not constitute the Major and Minor premises; for that premiss (wherever placed) is the Major which contains the Major term, and the Minor, the Minor.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. ii. ii. §1 The premiss..which contains the middle term and the minor term is called the minor premiss of the syllogism.
1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 18 Apr. 884/1 If one accepts the major premise..the minor premise and the conclusion follow automatically.
2002 M. Joseph Trivium 158 We find the Aristotelian sorites, which places the minor premise first, much more comfortable than the Goclenian sorites, which places the major premise first.
minor proposition n. Logic = minor premise n.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > [noun] > premise(s) > minor premise
minor?c1450
minor proposition1581
assumption1588
subsumption1600
suppositum1615
minor premise1728
reason1826
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 152 For the same purpose the minor proposition must bee denyed.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits v. 85 The high logic of never confounding the minor and major proposition.
1923 Philos. Rev. 32 401 The foregoing conclusion..could have been formulated without the aid of the reciprocal minor proposition.
1993 P. Barette & S. Baldwin tr. B. Latini Bk. of Treasure iii. 332 These are the five parts of the argument from close up, that is, the proposition and its confirmation, the minor proposition and its confirmation, and the conclusion.
2003 S. Hanson Legal Method & Reasoning (ed. 2) vii. 216 The main proposition is a general comment that to steal is to act contrary to the law... The minor proposition reduces it to a particular incident ‘Anna stole a book’.
minor shoulder-knot n. a Eurasian noctuid moth, Brachylomia viminalis, of heaths and damp woodland, having greyish white forewings and whitish hindwings, but with melanic forms widespread in the British Isles.
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1869 E. Newman Illustr. Nat. Hist. Brit. Moths 398 The Minor Shoulder-knot (Epunda viminalis).
1984 B. Skinner Moths Brit. Isles 109/1 Minor Shoulder-knot... The normal pale form..is most frequent in southern England.
minor suit n. Bridge the suit of diamonds or clubs.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > suits
major suit1913
minor suit1916
minor1927
1916 R. F. Foster Auction Bridge for All v. 23 Clubs and diamonds are called minor, or losing suits.
1916 R. F. Foster Auction Bridge for All v. 23 A much larger percentage of minor suit declarations fail to make good the contract than major suits.
1967 P. Anderton Play Bridge iii. 24 One does not readily take-out from a major suit into a minor suit at the level of ‘Two’ unless a five-carder is shown.
minor tactics n. Military the tactics or strategy of troops in the immediate face or expected presence of the enemy.
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society > armed hostility > war > war as profession or skill > [noun] > tactics > types of
minor tactics1832
1832 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 251 Minor tactics, or the evolutions of troops, whether in small or large numbers.
1871 Minutes Proc. Royal Artillery Inst. 7 328 Such questions..belong to grand, not to minor tactics, and present themselves for solution rather to the Commander-in-Chief..than to officers commanding batteries.
1928 H. Rowan-Robinson Some Aspects Mechanization 3 The study of the minor tactics of petrol-driven forces.
1973 D. Chandler Marlborough xv. 318 Fourth are ‘minor Tactics’—the actual fighting methods employed at unit level to gain a local success.
minor term n. Logic the subject of the conclusion of a syllogism.
ΚΠ
1599 T. Blundeville Art of Logike 118 The other is called the Minor tearme.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. ii. ii. §1 The premiss..which contains the middle term and the minor term is called the minor premiss of the syllogism.
1866 T. Fowler Induct. Logic (1869) 91 This fallacy is called illicit process of the major or minor, according as the term illegitimately distributed in the conclusion is the major or minor term.
1982 A. Curnow You will know when you get There 18 All men (major term) are Mortal all Doctors (minor term) Are men Therefore all Doctors..are (Were) Mortal.
minor tranquillizer n. Medicine any of a group of sedative drugs, including esp. the benzodiazepines, used to treat anxiety states (as opposed to psychoses).
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1960 L. E. Hinsie & R. J. Campbell Psychiatric Dict. (ed. 3) 751/1 Four classes of tranquilizing drugs are generally recognised:... Classes (3) and (4) [sc. substituted propanediols and diphenylmethane derivatives] are sometimes called minor tranquilizers or psycholeptica..; their principal effect is on the psyche to reduce anxiety.
1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 951/2 Malignant anxiety states described by Lambo and other different acute native anxiety neurosis responded adequately to supportive psychotherapy, M.A.O.I. and minor tranquillizers.
1991 W. Styron Darkness Visible i. 8 Aided by the minor tranquilizer Halcion, I had managed to defeat my insomnia and get a few hours' sleep.
1994 Brit. National Formulary (Brit. Med. Assoc.) 27 141/1 Anxiolytics, particularly the benzodiazepines, have been termed ‘minor tranquillisers’. This term is misleading because not only do they differ markedly from the antipsychotic drugs (‘major tranquillisers’) but their use is by no means minor.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
minorv.
/ˈmʌɪnə/, U.S. /ˈmaɪnər/ Chiefly North American.
intransitive. With in. To follow, or qualify in, a subsidiary subject or course of study at a college or university. See minor n. 10.
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society > education > learning > study > [verb (intransitive)] > study specific course
major1918
minor1930
1930 Progressive Educ. Feb. 5/2 American civilization at large would be aided if every student, having chosen his major, were required to minor in a subject which on the surface seemed utterly irrelevant to it.
1967 Oxf. Mag. 10 Feb. 205/1 [Canada] They intend to major in life sciences and minor in Phys. Ed.
1980 Sci. Amer. Feb. 12/1 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in communications and operations research and minored in computer science.
1991 J. Smiley Thousand Acres xxii. 167 Loren Clark had minored in Animal Science in college.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1230
v.1930