Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Lesser

Lesser (les"ẽr) , adjective

[This word is formed by adding anew the compar. suffix -er (in which r is from an original s) to less. See Less, a.]

Less; smaller; inferior.
God made... the lesser light to rule the night. — Gen. i. 15
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. — Shakespeare
The larger here, and there the lesser lambs. — Pope
By the same reason may a man, in the state of nature, punish the lesser breaches of the law. — Locke

Lesser is used for less, now the compar. of little, in certain special instances in which its employment has become established by custom; as, Lesser Asia (that is, Asia Minor), the lesser light, and some others; also in poetry, for the sake of the meter, and in prose where its use renders the passage more euphonious.

Lesser , adverb

Less. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare