minor

minor n

L.

1. Chant; song; strain; hymn tune; religious melody; piece of sacred music in a minor key; [metaphor] ave; greeting; hello; (see Luke 1:28) [fig.] chirp; peep; song of a Minorca, a beautiful bird of the East Indies.

minor adj

L. comp. of minus.

1. Lesser; smaller in size.
2. Insignificant; unimportant; harmless.
3. Subordinate; secondary; lesser in quantity or quality; not principal.
4. Tiny; miniature; diminutive; [fig.] mournful; haunting; plaintive; poignant sounding; in a musical key that has intervals lower by one semitone; [word play on “Minority”] having members smaller than birds; having fewer members than other groups of creatures; [word play on “Minorite”] Franciscan; having to do with the minor friars of the monastic order of St. Francis in the Catholic Church; [metaphor] close to nature; pertaining to a group of humming crickets.