Min"ute [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° 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.
⇒ Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module.
© Webster 1913.
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 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
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. -- 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 1913.