minute
noun
- A unit of time equal to sixty seconds (one-sixtieth of an hour).
- A short but unspecified time period.
- A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.
- A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.
adjective
- small
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: [maɪ̯ˈnjuːt] / [maɪ̯ˈnjʊwt] / [maɪ̯ˈn(j)u̟(ː)t] / /ˈmɪnɪt/
adj
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin minūtus (“small", "petty”), perfect passive participle of minuō (“make smaller”).
- Very small.
“They found only minute quantities of chemical residue on his clothing.”
- Very careful and exact, giving small details.
“The lawyer gave the witness a minute examination.”
“The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English mynute, minute, mynet, from Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minūta (“60th of an hour; note”). Doublet of menu and menudo.
- A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds).
“Holonyms: hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond”
“Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond”
- A short but unspecified time period.
“give me a minute”
“Wait a minute, I’m not ready yet!”
- A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.
“We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.”
- A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.
“Let’s look at the minutes of last week’s meeting.”
“The Clerk or 'recording Clerk' drafts a minute and then, or at a later time, reads it to the Meeting. Subsequent contributions are on the wording of the minute only, until it can be accepted by the Meeting. Once the minute is accepted, the Meeting moves on to the next item on the agenda.”
- A unit of purchase on a telephone or other similar network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network.
“If you buy this model, you’ll get 100 free minutes.”
- A point in time; a moment.
“I conked out the minute I got home.”
“Tell her, that I some Certainty may bring; / I go this minute to attend the king.”
- A nautical or a geographic mile.
- An old coin, a half farthing.
- A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a whit.
“[…]according to the Prophecies of him, which were so clear and descended to minutes and circumstances of his passion”
- A fixed part of a module.
- A while or a long unspecified period of time.
“Oh, I ain't heard that song in a minute!”
““Man, I haven’t seen you in a minute,” he says, smiling still. “Maybe like two, three years ago?””
- The distance that can be traveled in a minute.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English mynute, minute, mynet, from Old French minute, from Medieval Latin minūta (“60th of an hour; note”). Doublet of menu and menudo.
- Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.
“I’ll minute this evening’s meeting.”
“I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.”
- 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.”