minor

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.

adj

1. Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option
   1. (law) Underage, not having reached legal majority.
      The defendant resides at 123 Fake Street with his partner and two minor children.
   2. (medicine, sometimes figurative) Not serious, not involving risk of death, permanent injury, dangerous surgery, or extended hospitalization.
      We now know on authority of Dr. Briggs that every case of vaccination is "a minor case of smallpox," and that every such case of smallpox "should be carefully watched until all danger is passed". 1899 October, Edward Pollock Anshutz, Homoepathic Envoy, Vol. 10, No. 8, p. 58
      She suffered a minor injury.
      There was minor bruising.
      He has a minor case of puppy love.
   3. (music) Smaller by a diatonic semitone than the equivalent major interval.
      ...a certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism... 1653, Rene Descartes, translated by Lord Brouncker, Excellent Compendium of Musick, page 30
      The musical interval between C and E♭ is a minor third while C to E is a major third.
   4. (music) Incorporating a minor third interval above the (in scales) tonic or (in chords) root note, (also figurative) tending to produce a dark, discordant, sad, or pensive effect.
      The minor mode of D is tender. 1772, William Jones, “On the Arts, Commonly Called Imitative”, in Poems..., page 209
      The first chorus: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’, with its dark minor chords, brings threatening clouds over us. 1843 March, United States Magazine & Democratic Review, page 273
      Modern harmonists are unwilling to acknowledge that the minor triad is less consonant than the major. 1880, Edmund Gurney, The Power of Sound, page 271
      After harmony was introduced into music during the late Middle Ages, major and minor triads emerged as the principal chords. The major triad, as C E G, was regarded with especial favor, because it occurs naturally in the harmonic series, as on bugles, and can be expressed by the simple ratios, 4:5:6. A system of tuning for the diatonic scale known today as just intonation gained support in the 16th century, because its principal triads, C E G, F A C, and G B D, had these just ratios. But an important minor triad, D F A, is harsh in just intonation, and other unsatisfactory triads result when this tuning is extended to the complete chromatic scale. 1948 November, J.M. Barbour, “Music and Ternary Continued Fractions”, in American Mathematical Monthly, volume 55, number 9, page 545
      The first voice of the fugue that Elizabeth had played... came to him, inverted mockingly and in a minor key. 1951, Carson McCullers, “The Sojourner”, in O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951, page 200
      Tufnel: It's part of a trilogy, really, a musical trilogy that I'm doing in D... minor which I always find is really the saddest of all keys, really. I don't know why but it makes people weep instantly to play it... This piece is called "Lick My Love Pump". 1984, Christopher Guest et al., This Is Spin̈al Tap
      He was a moralist in a minor key, more concerned that people should say ‘tinned peaches’ and not ‘tin peaches’, than that they should worry about nuclear disarmament. October 23 1995, John Walsh, “The Pragmatic Entertainer Who Said the Unsayable”, in The Independent, page 3
      Beethoven's melancholy Moonlight Sonata is scored in the key of C# minor, using the diatonic scale C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, and B, but modulates throughout.
   5. (Canada, US, education) Of or related to a minor, a secondary area of undergraduate study.
      The minor requirements only involve about 20 hours of classes.
   6. (mathematics) Of or related to a minor, a determinate obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns from a matrix.
   7. (logic) Acting as the subject of the second premise of a categorical syllogism, which then also acts as the subject of its conclusion.
      The minor term of John Stuart Mill's famous syllogism—usually mistakenly credited to Aristotle—is Socrates; the major term is mortal.
   8. (UK, dated) The younger of two pupils with the same surname.
      He whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes minor, c. 1593, Henry Chettle, Kind-harts Dreame, sig. C2
      Espionage... was a field that had sophisticated itself since the distant time when Patullo Minor... had enthralled his school-fellows with his hazardous escapades. 1978, John Innes Mackintosh Stewart, Full Term, page 250
   9. (music, historical) Of or related to the relationship between the longa and the breve in a score.
      The minor perfect mode was marked by one single line which crossed three spaces, and the longue was equal to three breves... The minor imperfect mode was marked by a line which crossed two spaces only, and its longue was equal only to two breves. 1779, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by William Waring, Complete Dictionary of Music, page 243
   10. (music, historical) Having semibreves twice as long as a minim.
       Josquin works in minor prolation—that is, works in which the signature indicates that a semibreve is equal to two minims, often have a 3 as a medial signature for a few measures, indicating that until the 3 is canceled by the reappearance of a sign for minor prolation, there are to be 3 minims to a semibreve. 1969, Arthur Mendel, "Some Preliminary Attempts at Computer-Assisted Style Analysis in Music", Computers and the Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 45
   11. (politics, obsolete) Of or related to a minority party.
       ...that the Minor part of the Lords might joyn with the Major part of the House of Commons... 1642, Charles I, His Majesties Answer to a Printed Book Entituled A Remonstrance..., page 13
       In every other, the minor will be preferred by me to the major vote. 1796 December 27, Thomas Jefferson, letter
   12. Having little worth or ability; paltry; mean.

noun

1. (law) 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.
   King Richard the second... for the first tenne yeares of his raigne, was a Minor. 1612, John Davies, A Discouerie of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Neuer Entirely Subdued..., page 88
   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.
2. A lesser person or thing, a person, group, or thing of minor rank or in the minor leagues.
   Mr Gloss'em, who is a shining character in the theatrical world, at least among the minors of the metropolis. 1821, Pierce Egan, Real Life in London..., volume I, page 92
   He plays in the minors.
   She hasn't won a minor since the Sichuan Open.
   The play is considered one of his minors.
3. (music) Ellipsis of minor interval, scale, mode, key, chord, triad, etc.
4. (Canada, US, education) A formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major.
   I got a minor in English Lit.
5. (Canada, US, education, uncommon) A person who is completing or has completed such a course of study.
   I became an English minor.
6. (mathematics) A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns.
   ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero... 1850, James Joseph Sylvester, London, Edinburgh, & Dublin Philosophical Magazine..., volume 37, page 366
   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. 1986, C.W. Norman, Undergraduate Algebra, page 315
7. (Catholicism) Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun.
   He... to þe menours ordre went 1447, Osbern Bokenham, Legendys of Hooly Wummen, l. 10520
8. (logic) Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise.
   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. c. 1450, anonymous author, The Clergy May Not Hold Property, page 31
9. (baseball) Ellipsis of minor league: the lower level of teams.
   It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits. July 31 1890, Sporting Life, Philadelphia, page 1
10. (ice hockey) Ellipsis of minor penalty: a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for 2 minutes unless the opposing team scores.
    Penalties... First Period... all minors. December 30 1924, Gazette, Montreal, page 14
11. (Australian football) Synonym of behind: a one-point kick.
    Brown from a mark on the magazine wing put up the first minor. May 16 1903, Sporting News, Tasmania, page 4
12. (rugby, historical) Ellipsis of minor point: a lesser score formerly gained by certain actions.
    At half-time the score was—one goal, three tries, and four minors. February 5 1883, York Herald, page 8
13. (bridge) Ellipsis of minor suit; a card of a minor suit.
    Many find it easier to remember 20 for Minors, 30 for Majors and 35 for No Trump. 1927, Milton Cooper Work, Contract Bridge, page 11
14. (entomology) Any of various noctuid moths in Europe and Asia, chiefly in the Oligia and Mesoligia genera.
15. (entomology) A leaf-cutter worker ant intermediate in size between a minim and a media.
16. (campanology) Changes rung on six bells.
17. (Scotland law, obsolete) An adolescent, a person above the legal age of puberty but below the age of majority.
18. (mathematics, rare, obsolete) Synonym of subtrahend, the amount subtracted from a number.
19. (UK, rare, obsolete) The younger brother of a pupil.
    Let my minor pass, you fellows!... Here, Chudleigh, just make room there. 1864, Eton School Days, page 82

verb

1. Used in a phrasal verb: minor in.