Minute

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: min=ute

CIDE DICTIONARY

Minute, n. [LL. minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. minutus small: cf. F. minute. See 4th Minute.].

•  The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. m. or min.; as, 4 h. 30 m.)  [1913 Webster]

  "Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour."  [1913 Webster]
•  The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus (′); as, 10).  [1913 Webster]
•  A nautical or a geographic mile.  [1913 Webster]
•  A coin; a half farthing.  Wyclif (Mark xii. 42)  [1913 Webster]
•  A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle.  [1913 Webster]

  "Minutes and circumstances of his passion."  [1913 Webster]
•  A point of time; a moment.  [1913 Webster]

  "I go this minute to attend the king."  [1913 Webster]
•  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; to read the minutes of the last meeting.  [1913 Webster]
•  A fixed part of a module. See Module.  [1913 Webster]

  " Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module."  [1913 Webster]

Minute, a. 

 Of or pertaining to a minute or minutes; occurring at or marking successive minutes.  [1913 Webster]

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.

Minute, 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.  [1913 Webster]
"The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance."  [1913 Webster]

Minute, a. [L. minutus, p. p. of minuere to lessen. See Minish, Minor, and cf. Menu, Minuet.].

•  Very small; little; tiny; fine; slight; slender; inconsiderable; as, minute details.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Attentive to small things; paying attention to details; critical; particular; precise; as, a minute observer; minute observation.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Little; diminutive; fine; critical; exact; circumstantial; particular; detailed.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Minute, 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).

Idiom

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.

Minute, adj. (minutest)
1 very small.
2 trifling, petty.
3 (of an inquiry, inquirer, etc.) accurate, detailed, precise.

Derivative

minutely adv. minuteness n.

Etymology

ME f. L minutus past part. of minuere lessen

THESAURUS

Minute

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Minute

Compendium

N compend, compendium, abstract, precis, epitome, multum in parvo, analysis, pandect, digest, sum and substance, brief, abridgment, summary, apercu, draft, minute, note, excerpt, synopsis, textbook, conspectus, outlines, syllabus, contents, heads, prospectus, album, scrap book, note book, memorandum book, commonplace book, extracts, excerpta, cuttings, fugitive pieces, fugitive writing, spicilegium, flowers, anthology, collectanea, analecta, compilation, recapitulation, resume, review, abbreviation, abbreviature, contraction, shortening, compression, compendious, synoptic, analectic, abrege, abridged, variorum, in short, in epitome, in substance, in few words, it lies in a nutshell.

Smallness

N smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance), mediocrity, moderation, small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum, vanishing point, material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace, minutiae, details, look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow, spark, scintilla, gleam, touch, cast, grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture, inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive, snip, snippet, snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag, chip, chipping, shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair, nutshell, thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful, fragment, fraction, drop in the ocean, animalcule, trifle, mere nothing, next to nothing, hardly anything, just enough to swear by, the shadow of a shade, finiteness, finite quantity, small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, inconsiderable, paltry, faint, slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited, meager, sparing, few, low, so-so, middling, tolerable, no great shakes, below par, under par, below the mark, at a low ebb, halfway, moderate, modest, tender, subtle, inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small, atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic, mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare, near run, dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent, to a small extent, on a small scale, a little bit, a wee bit, slightly, imperceptibly, miserably, wretchedly, insufficiently, imperfectly, faintly, passably, pretty well, well enough, partially, in part, in a certain degree, to a certain degree, to a certain extent, comparatively, some, rather in some degree, in some measure, something, somewhat, simply, only, purely, merely, at least, at the least, at most, at the most, ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu, in ever so small a degree, thus far, pro tanto, within bounds, in a manner, after a fashion, so to speak, almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but, near upon, close upon, peu s'en faut, near the mark, within an ace of, within an inch of, on the brink of, scarcely, hardly, barely, only just, no more than, about, thereabouts, somewhere about, nearly, say, be the same, be little more or less, no ways, no way, no wise, not at all, not in the least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow, in no wise, in no respect, by no means, by no manner of means, on no account, at no hand, dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, small sands the mountain, moments make the year.

Period

N period, age, era, second, minute, hour, day, week, month, quarter, year, decade, decenniumm lustrum, quinquennium, lifetime, generation, epoch, ghurry, lunation, moon, century, millennium, annus magnus, horary, hourly, annual.

Instantaneity

N instantaneity, instantaneousness, immediacy, suddenness, abruptness, moment, instant, second, minute, twinkling, trice, flash, breath, crack, jiffy, coup, burst, flash of lightning, stroke of time, epoch, time, time of day, time of night, hour, minute, very minute, very time, very hour, present time, right time, true time, exact correct time, instantaneous, momentary, sudden, immediate, instant, abrupt, discontinuous, precipitous, precipitant, precipitate, subitaneous, hasty, quick as thought, quick as lightning, quick as a flash, rapid as electricity, speedy, quick, fast, fleet, swift, lively, blitz, rapid (velocity), instantaneously, in no time, in less than no time, presto, subito, instanter, suddenly, at a stroke, like a shot, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, in the twinkling of an eye, in a trice, in one's tracks, right away, toute a l'heure, at one jump, in the same breath, per saltum, uno saltu, at once, all at once, plump, slap, at one fell swoop, at the same instant, immediately, extempore, on the moment, on the spot, on the spur of the moment, no sooner said than done, just then, slap-dash, touch and go, no sooner said than done, instantaneity, instantaneousness, immediacy, suddenness, abruptness, moment, instant, second, minute, twinkling, trice, flash, breath, crack, jiffy, coup, burst, flash of lightning, stroke of time, epoch, time, time of day, time of night, hour, minute, very minute, very time, very hour, present time, right time, true time, exact correct time, instantaneous, momentary, sudden, immediate, instant, abrupt, discontinuous, precipitous, precipitant, precipitate, subitaneous, hasty, quick as thought, quick as lightning, quick as a flash, rapid as electricity, speedy, quick, fast, fleet, swift, lively, blitz, rapid (velocity), instantaneously, in no time, in less than no time, presto, subito, instanter, suddenly, at a stroke, like a shot, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, in the twinkling of an eye, in a trice, in one's tracks, right away, toute a l'heure, at one jump, in the same breath, per saltum, uno saltu, at once, all at once, plump, slap, at one fell swoop, at the same instant, immediately, extempore, on the moment, on the spot, on the spur of the moment, no sooner said than done, just then, slap-dash, touch and go, no sooner said than done.

Littleness

N littleness, smallness, exiguity, inextension, parvitude, parvity, duodecimo, Elzevir edition, epitome, microcosm, rudiment, vanishing point, thinness, dwarf, pygmy, pigmy, Liliputian, chit, pigwidgeon, urchin, elf, atomy, dandiprat, doll, puppet, Tom Thumb, Hop-o'-my-thumb, manikin, mannikin, homunculus, dapperling, cock-sparrow, animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon, bacteria, infusoria, microzoa, phytozoaria, microbe, grub, tit, tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry, millet seed, mustard seed, barleycorn, pebble, grain of sand, molehill, button, bubble, point, atom, fragment, powder, point of a pin, mathematical point, minutiae, micrometer, vernier, scale, microphotography, photomicrography, micrography, photomicrograph, microphotograph, microscopy, microscope (optical instruments), little, small, minute, diminutive, microscopic, microzoal, inconsiderable, exiguous, puny, tiny, wee, petty, minikin, miniature, pygmy, pigmy, elfin, undersized, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, spare, stunted, limited, cramp, cramped, pollard, Liliputian, dapper, pocket, portative, portable, duodecimo, dumpy, squat, short, impalpable, intangible, evanescent, imperceptible, invisible, inappreciable, insignificant, inconsiderable, trivial, infinitesimal, homoeopathic, atomic, subatomic, corpuscular, molecular, rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, vestigial, weazen, scant, scraggy, scrubby, thin, granular, shrunk, brevipennate, in a small compass, in a nutshell, on a small scale, minutely, microscopically.

Record

N record, trace, vestige, relic, remains, scar, cicatrix, footstep, footmark, footprint, pug, track mark, wake, trail, scent, piste, monument, hatchment, slab, tablet, trophy, achievement, obelisk, pillar, column, monolith, memorial, memento, testimonial, medal, commemoration, record, note, minute, register, registry, roll, cartulary, diptych, Domesday book, catalogue raisonne, entry, memorandum, indorsement, inscription, copy, duplicate, docket, notch, muniment, deed, document, deposition, proces verbal, affidavit, certificate, notebook, memorandum book, memo book, pocketbook, commonplace book, portfolio, pigeonholes, excerpta, adversaria, jottings, dottings, gazette, gazetteer, newspaper, daily, magazine, almanac, almanack, calendar, ephemeris, diary, log, journal, daybook, ledger, cashbook, petty cashbook, professional journal, scientific literature, the literature, primary literature, secondary literature, article, review article, archive, scroll, state paper, return, blue book, statistics, compte rendu, Acts of, Transactions of, Proceedings of, Hansard's Debates, chronicle, annals, legend, history, biography, Congressional Records, registration, registry, enrollment, inrollment, tabulation, entry, booking, signature, recorder, journalism, recording, tape recording, videotape, compact disk, floppy disk, diskette, hard disk, Winchester disk, read-only memory, ROM, write once read mostly memory, WORM, on record, exegi monumentum aere perennium, read their history in a nation's eyes, records that defy the tooth of time.

VB record, put on record, place on record, chronicle, calendar, hand down to posterity, keep up the memory, commemorate, report, write, commit to writing, reduce to writing, put in writing, set down in writing, writing in black and white, put down, jot down, take down, write down, note down, set down, note, minute, put on paper, take note, make a note, take minute, take memorandum, make a return, mark, sign, enter, book, post, post up, insert, make an entry of, mark off, tick off, register, enroll, inscroll, file, burn into memory, carve in stone.