minute hand

[min-it]

noun

1. the hand that indicates the minutes on a clock or watch, usually longer than the hour hand.

minute hand

/ ˈmɪnɪt /

noun

1. the pointer on a timepiece that indicates minutes, typically the longer hand of two Compare hour hand second hand

Word History and Origins

Origin of minute hand¹

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

But before long, she had said all she could think of to say on the subject of education, and the minute hand on the clock had barely swept past the half-hour mark.

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Using the tip of a sharpened pencil, I delicately push the minute hand of the watch around in a circle, though the hour hand is unmovable, permanently pointing at 11 o’clock.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The 62-year-old also explained how the clock keeps its time during the year despite the forces of gravity on the minute hand.

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This clock-inspired design involves placing two nanorods made of Mg at a certain modifiable angle, resembling the hour and minute hands of a clock.

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Two years later, the minute hand moved forward to just 100 seconds before midnight, and this January — the most recent Doomsday Clock announcement — it was, for the first time ever, inched forward to 90 seconds.

Read more on Salon