minor

minor [mī′nər]

adj.

[ME menour < L minor < IE * minu-, small < base * mei-, to lessen > Gr meiōn, less, ON minni, smaller]

1.

a) lesser in size, amount, number, or extent

b) lesser in importance or rank

2. under full legal age (usually either eighteen or twenty-one years)

3. Archaic constituting the minority: said of a party, etc.

4. sad; melancholy; plaintive: from the identification in Occidental music of the minor key with such qualities

☆ 5. Educ. designating or of a field of study in which students specialize, but less so than in their major

6. Music

a) designating an imperfect interval smaller than the corresponding major interval by a semitone

b) characterized by minor intervals, scales, etc. [the minor key]

c) designating a triad having a minor third

d) based on the scale pattern of the minor mode: see MINOR SCALE

vi.

☆ Educ. to make some subject one's minor field of study [to minor in art]

n.

1. a person under full legal age, who has not yet acquired all civil rights

☆ 2. Educ. a minor subject or field of study

3. Music a minor interval, key, etc.

——————

☆ the minors

the minor leagues, esp. in baseball