minute

a. [ L. minutus, p. p. of minuere to lessen. See Minish, Minor, and cf. Menu, Minuet. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Very small; little; tiny; fine; slight; slender; inconsiderable; as, minute details. “Minute drops.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. -- 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. minutus small: cf. F. minute. See 4th Minute. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. 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. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus (′); as, 10° 20′). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A nautical or a geographic mile. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A coin; a half farthing. [ Obs. ] Wyclif (Mark xii. 42) [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Minutes and circumstances of his passion. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A point of time; a moment. [ 1913 Webster ]

I go this minute to attend the king. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. pl. 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 ]

8. (Arch.) 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 ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A figure which strikes the hour on the bell of some fanciful clocks; -- called also jack of the clock house. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A timeserver; an inconstant person. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ From 4th Minute. ] In a minute manner; with minuteness; exactly; nicely. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From 1st Minute. ] Happening every minute; continuing; unceasing. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Throwing themselves absolutely upon God's minutely providence. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. At intervals of a minute; very often and regularly. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

Minutely proclaimed in thunder from heaven. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Minutemen A militiaman who was to be ready to march at a moment's notice; -- a term used in the American Revolution. [ 1913 Webster ]