Minnesinger to Miracle
Minnesinger
(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.
Minnow
(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.
Minny
(Min"ny) n. (Zoöl.) A minnow.
Mino bird
(Mi"no bird") [Hind. maina.] (Zoöl.) An Asiatic bird 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.
Minor
(Mi"nor) 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&sharp, 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, thus: —
See Major. — Minor term of a syllogism (Logic), the subject of the conclusion.
Minor
(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.
3. A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.
