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minute

1. The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. M.; 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 deg 20')

3. A nautical or a geographic mile.

4. A coin; a half farthing.

5. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle. 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.

8. 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.

Origin: LL. Minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. Minutus small: cf. F. Minute. See 4th Minute.