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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

minim

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Gentlemen, not a bit of evidence have you had, not a molecule, not a minim, not a mite.

From The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident by Edgar Saltus

No doubt there are abject specimens of the visionary, as there is a minim mammal which you might imprison in the finger of your glove.

From Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

From dust it turned to dirt, from minim into mountain.

From Eden An Episode by Edgar Saltus

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