Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour. Chaucer.

Minutes and circumstances of his passion. Jer. Taylor.

I go this minute to attend the king. Dryden.

* Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module.

Minute bell, a bell tolled at intervals of a minute, as to give notice of a death or a funeral. -- Minute book, a book in which written minutes are entered. -- Minute glass, a glass measuring a minute or minutes by the running of sand. -- Minute gun, a discharge of a cannon repeated every minute as a sign of distress or mourning. -- Minute hand, the long hand of a watch or clock, which makes the circuit of the dial in an hour, and marks the minutes.

The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an edict for universal tolerance. Bancroft.

Syn. -- Little; diminutive; fine; critical; exact; circumstantial; particular; detailed. -- Minute, Circumstantial, Particular. A circumstantial account embraces all the leading events; a particular account includes each event and movement, though of but little importance; a minute account goes further still, and omits nothing as to person, time, place, adjuncts, etc.