DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
mi·nor a.
1. Inferior in bulk, degree, importance, etc.; less; smaller; of little account; as, minor divisions of a body.
2. Mus. Less by a semitone in interval or difference of pitch; as, a minor third.
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,
See Major.
Minor term of a syllogism Logic, the subject of the conclusion.
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Scale, n.
1. A ladder; a series of steps; a means of ascending. [Obs.]
2. Hence, anything graduated, especially when employed as a measure or rule, or marked by lines at regular intervals. Specifically: (a) A mathematical instrument, consisting of a slip of wood, ivory, or metal, with one or more sets of spaces graduated and numbered on its surface, for measuring or laying off distances, etc., as in drawing, plotting, and the like. See Gunter's scale. (b) A series of spaces marked by lines, and representing proportionately larger distances; as, a scale of miles, yards, feet, etc., for a map or plan. (c) A basis for a numeral system; as, the decimal scale; the binary scale, etc. (d) Mus. The graduated series of all the tones, ascending or descending, from the keynote to its octave; -- called also the gamut. It may be repeated through any number of octaves. See Chromatic scale, Diatonic scale, Major scale, and Minor scale, under Chromatic, Diatonic, Major, and Minor.
3. Gradation; succession of ascending and descending steps and degrees; progressive series; scheme of comparative rank or order; as, a scale of being.
There is a certain scale of duties . . . which for want of studying in right order, all the world is in confusion. --Milton.
4. Relative dimensions, without difference in proportion of parts; size or degree of the parts or components in any complex thing, compared with other like things; especially, the relative proportion of the linear dimensions of the parts of a drawing, map, model, etc., to the dimensions of the corresponding parts of the object that is represented; as, a map on a scale of an inch to a mile.
Scale of chords, a graduated scale on which are given the lengths of the chords of arcs from 0° to 90° in a circle of given radius, -- used in measuring given angles and in plotting angles of given numbers of degrees.
minor scale
n : a diatonic scale with notes separated by whole tones except
for the 2nd and 3rd and 5th and 6th [syn: minor diatonic
scale]