minor
minor (mī"nẽr) , adjective
[Latin, a comparative with no positive; akin to Anglo-Saxon min small, German minder less, Old High German minniro, a., min, adv., Icelandic minni, a., minnr, adv., Gothic minniza, a., mins, adv., Ir. & Gael. min small, tender, Latin minuere to lessen, Greek miny`qein, Sanskrit mi to damage. Compare Minish, Minister, Minus, Minute.]
1.
Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
2.
(Music) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a minor third.
Minor , noun
1.
A person of either sex who has not attained the age at which full civil rights are accorded; an infant; in England and the United States, one under twenty-one years of age.
In hereditary monarchies, the minority of a sovereign ends at an earlier age than of a subject. The minority of a sovereign of Great Britain ends upon the completion of the eighteenth year of his age.
2.
(Logic) The minor term, that is, the subject of the conclusion; also, the minor premise, that is, that premise which contains the minor term; in hypothetical syllogisms, the categorical premise. It is the second proposition of a regular syllogism, as in the following: Every act of injustice partakes of meanness; to take money from another by gaming is an act of injustice; therefore, the taking of money from another by gaming partakes of meanness.
3.
A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.