minute

noun

1. A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds).

   “Holonyms: hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond”

   “Meronyms: quectosecond < rontosecond < yoctosecond < zeptosecond < attosecond < femtosecond < picosecond < nanosecond < microsecond < millisecond < centisecond < decisecond < second < decasecond”

   “You have twenty minutes to complete the test.”

   “Total activity levels in the lowest quartile were equivalent to walking for 49 minutes at roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) per hour daily. Total activity levels in the second-, third- and fourth-highest quartiles were equivalent to 78, 105 and 160 minutes, respectively.”

2. (informal)A short but unspecified time period.

   “give me a minute”

   “Wait a minute, I’m not ready yet!”

3. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.

   “We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.”

4. (in-plural)A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.

   “Let’s look at the minutes of last week’s meeting.”

   “The Clerk or 'recording Clerk' drafts a minute and then, or at a later time, reads it to the Meeting. Subsequent contributions are on the wording of the minute only, until it can be accepted by the Meeting. Once the minute is accepted, the Meeting moves on to the next item on the agenda.”

5. A unit of purchase on a telephone or other similar network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network.

   “If you buy this model, you’ll get 100 free minutes.”

6. A point in time; a moment.

   “I conked out the minute I got home.”

   “Tell her, that I some Certainty may bring; / I go this minute to attend the king.”

7. A nautical or a geographic mile.
8. An old coin, a half farthing.
9. (obsolete)A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a whit.

   “[…]according to the Prophecies of him, which were so clear and descended to minutes and circumstances of his passion”

10. A fixed part of a module.
11. (Canada, US, dialectal, slang)A while or a long unspecified period of time.

    “Oh, I ain't heard that song in a minute!”

    ““Man, I haven’t seen you in a minute,” he says, smiling still. “Maybe like two, three years ago?””

    “I seen Too$hort up there. Me and $hort ain't talked in a minute.”

    “RON:I remember my first. I was a minute younger than you. […]I remember thinking, saying to myself..."This is the first time I'm eating as a person who killed someone."”

verb

1. (transitive)Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.

   “I’ll minute this evening’s meeting.”

   “I dare say there was a vast amount of minuting, memoranduming, and despatch-boxing, on this mighty subject.”

   “On 17 November 1949 Jay minuted Cripps, arguing that trade liberalization on inessentials was socially regressive.”

   “The Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command, Sir Richard Peirse, was sceptical of its findings, minuting, ‘I don’t think at this rate we could have hoped to produce the damage which is known to have been achieved.’”

   “Mr. Klingstadt, chief Auditor of the Admiralty of that city, sent for and examined them very particularly concerning the events which had befallen them; minuting down their answers in writing, with an intention of publishing himself an account of their extraordinary adventures.”

2. To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.

   “The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance.”

adj

1. Very small.

   “They found only minute quantities of chemical residue on his clothing.”

2. Very careful and exact, giving small details.

   “The lawyer gave the witness a minute examination.”

   “The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.”