Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Minute

Minute (?; 277) , noun

[Late Latin minuta a small portion, small coin, from Latin minutus small: compare French minute. See 4th Minute.]

1.
The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. m. or min.; as, 4 h. 30 m.)
Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour. — Chaucer
2.
The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus (′); as, 10° 20′).
3.
A nautical or a geographic mile.
4.
A coin; a half farthing. [Obsolete] — Wyclif (Mark xii. 42)
5.
A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle. [Obsolete]
Minutes and circumstances of his passion. — Jer. Taylor
6.
A point of time; a moment.
I go this minute to attend the king. — Dryden
7.
The memorandum; a record; a note to preserve the memory of anything; as, to take minutes of a contract; to take minutes of a conversation or debate; to read the minutes of the last meeting.
8.
(Architecture) A fixed part of a module. See Module.

Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module.

Minute , adjective

Of or pertaining to a minute or minutes; occurring at or marking successive minutes.
Collocations (5)
Minute bell , a bell tolled at intervals of a minute, as to give notice of a death or a funeral.
Minute book , a book in which written minutes are entered.
Minute glass , a glass measuring a minute or minutes by the running of sand.
Minute gun , a discharge of a cannon repeated every minute as a sign of distress or mourning.
Minute hand , the long hand of a watch or clock, which makes the circuit of the dial in an hour, and marks the minutes.

Minute , transitive verb

[imp. & p. p. Minuted; p. pr. & vb. n. Minuting.]

To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.
The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance. — Bancroft

Minute (mī*nūt" or mi*nūt") , adjective

[Latin minutus, past participle of minuere to lessen. See Minish, Minor, and compare Menu, Minuet.]

1.
Very small; little; tiny; fine; slight; slender; inconsiderable; as, minute details.
Minute drops. — Milton
2.
Attentive to small things; paying attention to details; critical; particular; precise; as, a minute observer; minute observation.