minim

American  

[min-uhm] / ˈmɪn əm /

noun

1. the smallest unit of liquid measure, 1/60 (0.0167) of a fluid dram, roughly equivalent to one drop. min, min.; ♍, ♏

2. Music. a note, formerly the shortest in use, but now equivalent in time value to one half of a semibreve; half note.

3. the least quantity of anything.

4. something very small or insignificant.

5. (initial capital letter) a member of a mendicant religious order founded in the 15th century by St. Francis of Paola.

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adjective

1. smallest.

2. very small.

minim British  

/ ˈmɪnɪm /

noun

1.  M.  a unit of fluid measure equal to one sixtieth of a drachm. It is approximately equal to one drop

2. Usual US and Canadian name: half-note.  music a note having the time value of half a semibreve

3. a small or insignificant person or thing

4. a downward stroke in calligraphy

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adjective

1. rare very small; tiny

Etymology

Origin of minim

1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin, Latin minimus; as musical term, < Medieval Latin ( nota ) minima; see minimum

Example Sentences

What they meant was that Meredith Willson, 63, was a missed minim who didn't belong on the council.

From Time Magazine Archive

I repeated the operation in exactly the same manner, and now the drops averaged 1/23.5 of a minim.

From Insectivorous Plants by Darwin, Charles

Should he arrive, the breath of life still in him, His face will be repulsed from door to door; He'll get no lodging, not the very minim, Save under heaven on the pebbly shore.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, April 30, 1919 by Various

The mountain dissolved into minim, the dirt into dust, and she took the speck and blew it back into the shadows from which it had come.

From Eden An Episode by Saltus, Edgar

And now they throng the moonlight glade, Above, below, on every side, Their little minim forms arrayed In the tricksy pomp of fairy pride!

From Library of the World's Best literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 12 by Various