Min″ute (?; 277), n. [LL. minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. minutus small: cf. F. minute. See 4th 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° 20′).
3. A nautical or a geographic mile.
4. A coin; a half farthing. Wyclif (Mark xii. 42)
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. (Arch.) 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.