minor
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmaɪ.nəɹ/
ipa: /ˈmaɪnə/
homophone: miner
homophone: mynah (non-rhotic)
rhymes: -aɪnə(ɹ)
Forms: form: minors
form: miner
form: maner
form: minore
form: minour
form: mynor
form: mynour
form: mynowr
form: mi
Etymology: From Middle English minor, menor, menour, etc., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, etc. Doublet of minus but not mini-. Cognate with minister, minify, Minorca, Menshevik, and possibly minnow. Compare Latin minimum and minuō, Old High German minniro, Cornish minow.
Senses: examples: text: No, he can't get a mortgage or sell the house. He's still a minor. For the most part, he can't sign a legally binding contract.
text: He was only a minor when he succeeded his father to the barony.
text: King Richard the second... for the first tenne yeares of his raigne, was a Minor.
ref: 1612, John Davies, A Discouerie of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Neuer Entirely Subdued..., page 88:
topics: law
glosses: A child, a person who has not reached the age of majority, consent, etc. and is legally subject to fewer responsibilities and less accountability and entitled to fewer legal rights and privileges.
examples: text: He plays in the minors.
text: She hasn't won a minor since the Sichuan Open.
text: The play is considered one of his minors.
text: Mr Gloss'em, who is a shining character in the theatrical world, at least among the minors of the metropolis.
ref: 1821, Pierce Egan, Real Life in London..., volume I, page 92:
glosses: A lesser person or thing, a person, group, or thing of minor rank or in the minor leagues.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Ellipsis of minor interval, minor scale, minor mode, minor key, minor chord, or minor triad.
examples: text: I got a minor in English Lit.
topics: education
glosses: A formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major.
examples: text: I became an English minor.
topics: education
glosses: A person who is completing or has completed such a course of study.
examples: text: ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero...
ref: 1850, James Joseph Sylvester, London, Edinburgh, & Dublin Philosophical Magazine..., volume 37, page 366:
text: 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.
ref: 1986, C.W. Norman, Undergraduate Algebra, page 315:
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns.
examples: text: He... to þe menours ordre went
ref: 1447, Osbern Bokenham, Legendys of Hooly Wummen, l. 10520:
topics: Catholicism
Christianity
glosses: Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun.
examples: text: And so musten oure clerkis argue whan þai aleggen for her lordeschip þe lyuynge of her patrons & sayntis, & sayen þus: "Seynt thomas & seynt hwe & seynt Swiþune wer þus lordis, & in þis þai suyd cristis lyuynge & his lore; þerfor we may lefulli be þus lordis." And I wote wel þat gabriel schal blow his horne or þai han preuyd þe mynor; þat is, þat þes seyntes or patrons in þis suyden þe lore or þe life of ihesu criste.
ref: c. 1450, anonymous author, The Clergy May Not Hold Property, page 31:
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise.
examples: text: It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits.
ref: 1890 July 31, Sporting Life, Philadelphia, page 1:
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Ellipsis of minor league (“the lower level of teams”).
examples: text: Penalties... First Period... all minors.
ref: 1924 December 30, Gazette, Montreal, page 14:
topics: hobbies
ice-hockey
lifestyle
skating
sports
glosses: Ellipsis of minor penalty (“a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for 2 minutes unless the opposing team scores”).
examples: text: Brown from a mark on the magazine wing put up the first minor.
ref: 1903 May 16, Sporting News, Tasmania, page 4:
topics: ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Synonym of behind: a one-point kick.
synonyms: word: behind
extra: a one-point kick
examples: text: At half-time the score was—one goal, three tries, and four minors.
ref: 1883 February 5, York Herald, page 8:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rugby
sports
glosses: Ellipsis of minor point (“a lesser score formerly gained by certain actions”).
examples: text: Many find it easier to remember 20 for Minors, 30 for Majors and 35 for No Trump.
ref: 1927, Milton Cooper Work, Contract Bridge, page 11:
topics: bridge
games
glosses: Ellipsis of minor suit, a card of a minor suit.
topics: biology
entomology
natural-sciences
glosses: Any of various noctuid moths in Europe and Asia, chiefly in the Oligia and Mesoligia genera.
topics: biology
entomology
natural-sciences
glosses: A leaf-cutter worker ant intermediate in size between a minim and a media.
topics: campanology
history
human-sciences
sciences
glosses: Changes rung on six bells.
qualifier: Scots law
glosses: An adolescent, a person above the legal age of puberty but below the age of majority.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Synonym of subtrahend, the amount subtracted from a number.
synonyms: word: subtrahend
extra: the amount subtracted from a number
examples: text: Let my minor pass, you fellows!... Here, Chudleigh, just make room there.
ref: 1864, Eton School Days, page 82:
glosses: The younger brother of a pupil.
topics: graph-theory
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Short for graph minor
Coordinate terms: topics: law
word: adult
sense: Scots law
word: pupil
sense: Scots law
word: adult
Derived terms: harmonic minor
Hungarian minor
mature minor
minor-attracted person
minoress