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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

minor \mi"nor\ (m[imac]"n[~e]r), a. [L., a comparative with no
positive; akin to AS. min small, G. minder less, OHG.
minniro, a., min, adv., Icel. minni, a., minnr, adv., Goth.
minniza, a., mins, adv., Ir. & Gael. min small, tender, L.
minuere to lessen, Gr. miny`qein, Skr. mi to damage. Cf.
{Minish}, {Minister}, {Minus}, {Minute}.]
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1. Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller;
of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
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2. (Mus.) Less by a semitone in interval or difference of
pitch; as, a minor third.
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{Asia Minor} (Geog.), the Lesser Asia; that part of Asia
which lies between the Euxine, or Black Sea, on the north,
and the Mediterranean on the south.

{Minor mode} (Mus.), that mode, or scale, in which the third
and sixth are minor, -- much used for mournful and solemn
subjects.

{Minor orders} (Eccl.), the rank of persons employed in
ecclesiastical offices who are not in holy orders, as
doorkeepers, acolytes, etc.

{Minor scale} (Mus.) The form of the minor scale is various.
The strictly correct form has the third and sixth minor,
with a semitone between the seventh and eighth, which
involves an augmented second interval, or three semitones,
between the sixth and seventh, as, 6/F, 7/G[sharp], 8/A.
But, for melodic purposes, both the sixth and the seventh
are sometimes made major in the ascending, and minor in
the descending, scale, thus:
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[1913 Webster] See {Major}.

{Minor term of a syllogism} (Logic), the subject of the
conclusion.
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Minor \Mi"nor\, n.
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.
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Note: 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.
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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.
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3. A Minorite; a Franciscan friar.
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