minor

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
minor/ˈmʌɪnə(r)/

▶adjective

• 1 having little importance, seriousness, or significance.

• 2 Music (of a scale) having intervals of a semitone between the second and third degrees, and (usually) the fifth and sixth, and the seventh and eighth. Contrasted with major.

  ■ (of an interval) characteristic of a minor scale and less by a semitone than the equivalent major interval.

  ■ [often postpos.] (of a key or mode) based on a minor scale: Concerto in A minor.

• 3 Brit. dated (appended to a surname in public schools) indicating the younger of two brothers: Smith minor.

• 4 Logic (of a term) occurring as the subject of the conclusion of a categorical syllogism.

  ■ (of a premise) containing the minor term in a categorical syllogism.

▶noun

• 1 a person under the age of full legal responsibility.

• 2 Music a minor key, interval, or scale.

  ■ Bell-ringing a system of change-ringing using six bells.

• 3 (minors) N. Amer. the minor leagues in baseball or American football.

• 4 N. Amer. a student's subsidiary subject or course.

• 5 Logic a minor term or premise.

• 6 a small drab moth which has purplish caterpillars that feed on grass. [Genus Oligia.]

▶verb (minor in) N. Amer. study or qualify in as a subsidiary subject.

– origin ME (orig. denoting a Franciscan friar, suggested by the Latin name Fratres Minores, ‘Lesser Brethren’, chosen by St Francis): from L., ‘smaller, less’.