Min"is*try*ship, n. The office of a minister. Swift.
Min"i*um (?; 277), n. [L. minium, an Iberian word, the Romans getting
all their cinnabar from Spain; cf. Basque armineá.] (Chem.) A heavy,
brilliant red pigment, consisting of an oxide of lead, Pb3O4, obtained
by exposing lead or massicot to a gentle and continued heat in the air.
It is used as a cement, as a paint, and in the manufacture of flint
glass. Called also red lead.
Min"i*ver (?), n. [See Meniver.] A fur esteemed in the Middle Ages as a
part of costume. It is uncertain whether it was the fur of one animal
only or of different animals.
Min"i*vet (?), n. (Zoöl.) A singing bird of India of the family
Campephagidæ.
Mink (?), n. [Cf. 2d Minx.] (Zoöl.) A carnivorous mammal of the genus
Putorius, allied to the weasel. The European mink is Putorius lutreola.
The common American mink (P. vison) varies from yellowish brown to
black. Its fur is highly valued. Called also minx, nurik, and vison.
Min"ne*sing`er (?), n. [G., fr. minne love + singen to sing.] A
love-singer; specifically, one of a class of German poets and musicians
who flourished from about the middle of the twelfth to the middle of
the fourteenth century. They were chiefly of noble birth, and made love
and beauty the subjects of their verses.
Min"now, n. [OE. menow, cf. AS. myne; also OE. menuse, OF. menuise
small fish; akin to E. minish, minute.] [Written also minow.]
1. (Zoöl.) A small European fresh-water cyprinoid fish (Phoxinus lævis,
formerly Leuciscus phoxinus); sometimes applied also to the young of
larger kinds; -- called also minim and minny. The name is also applied
to several allied American species, of the genera Phoxinus, Notropis,
or Minnilus, and Rhinichthys.
2. (Zoöl.) Any of numerous small American cyprinodont fishes of the
genus Fundulus, and related genera. They live both in fresh and in salt
water. Called also killifish, minny, and mummichog.
Min"ny (?), n. (Zoöl.) A minnow.
Mi"no bird" (m"n brd). [Hind. main.] (Zoöl.) An Asiatic bird (Gracula
musica), allied to the starlings. It is black, with a white spot on the
wings, and a pair of flat yellow wattles on the head. It is often tamed
and taught to pronounce words.
Mi"nor (m"nr), a. [L., a comparative with no positive; akin to AS. min
small, G. minder less, OHG. minniro, a., min, adv., Icel. minni, a.,
minnr, adv., Goth. minniza, a., mins, adv., Ir. & Gael. min small,
tender, L. minuere to lessen, Gr. miny`qein, Skr. mi to damage. Cf.
Minish, Minister, Minus, Minute.]
1. Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little
account; as, minor divisions of a body.
2. (Mus.) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a
minor third.
Asia Minor (Geog.), the Lesser Asia; that part of Asia which lies
between the Euxine, or Black Sea, on the north, and the Mediterranean
on the south. -- Minor mode (Mus.), that mode, or scale, in which the
third and sixth are minor, -- much used for mournful and solemn
subjects. -- Minor orders (Eccl.), the rank of persons employed in
ecclesiastical offices who are not in holy orders, as doorkeepers,
acolytes, etc. -- Minor scale (Mus.) The form of the minor scale is
various. The strictly correct form has the third and sixth minor, with
a semitone between the seventh and eighth, which involves an augmented
second interval, or three semitones, between the sixth and seventh, as,
6/F, 7/G, 8/A. But, for melodic purposes, both the sixth and the
seventh are sometimes made major in the ascending, and minor in the
descending, scale,
See Major. -- Minor term of a syllogism (Logic), the subject of the
conclusion.
Mi"nor (?), n. 1. A person of either sex who has not attained the age
at which full civil rights are accorded; an infant; in England and the
United States, one under twenty-one years of age.
In hereditary monarchies, the minority of a sovereign ends at an
earlier age than of a subject. The minority of a sovereign of Great
Britain ends upon the completion of the eighteenth year of his age.
2. (Logic) The minor term, that is, the subject of the conclusion;
also, the minor premise, that is, that premise which contains the minor
term; in hypothetical syllogisms, the categorical premise. It is the
second proposition of a regular syllogism, as in the following: Every
act of injustice partakes of meanness; to take money from another by
gaming is an act of injustice; therefore, the taking of money from
another by gaming partakes of meanness.