minute

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Dictionary: min·ute¹ (mĭn'ĭt) pronunciation

n. (Abbr. min.)

A unit of time equal to one sixtieth of an hour, or 60 seconds.
A unit of angular measurement equal to one sixtieth of a degree, or 60 seconds. Also called minute of arc.
A measure of the distance one can cover in a minute: lives ten minutes from school.
A short interval of time; moment. See synonyms at moment.
A specific point in time: Stop that this minute!
A note or summary covering points to be remembered; a memorandum.
minutes An official record of the proceedings of a meeting.

tr.v., -ut·ed, -ut·ing, -utes.

To record in a memorandum or the minutes of a meeting.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin (pars) minūta (prīma), (first) minute (part), from Latin minūta, feminine of minūtus, small. See minute².]

mi·nute² (mī-nūt', -nyūt', mĭ-) pronunciation

adj.

Exceptionally small; tiny. See synonyms at small.
Beneath notice; insignificant.
Characterized by careful scrutiny and close examination: held a minute inspection of the grounds.

[Middle English, from Latin minūtus, past participle of minuere, to lessen.]

minuteness mi·nute'ness n.

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5min Related Video: minute

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Thesaurus: minute¹

noun

Informal

Chiefly British

See

minute²

adjective

Extremely small: diminutive, dwarf, Lilliputian, midget, miniature, minuscule, pygmy, tiny, wee. Informal peewee, pintsize, pintsized, teensy-weensy, teensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, weeny. See big/small/amount.
Characterized by attention to detail: blow-by-blow, circumstantial, detailed, full, particular, thorough. See specific/general.

Antonyms: minute

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adj

Definition: exact, precise
Antonyms: cursory, imprecise, inexact, rough

adj

Definition: unimportant
Antonyms: consequential, considerable, important, significant, substantial, trivial

adj

Definition: very small
Antonyms: big, giant, gigantic, huge, large, mighty

Measures and Units: minute

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[Etymology: Lat: ‘small’] Symbol ′. Usually the first subdivisional unit of some more established unit, a term adopted in medieval times when the Babylonian sexagesimal scheme of division was common, hence rarely other than a sixtieth of the larger unit. Often represented by a single prime or hash mark, e.g. 3′ for 3 minutes of time, angle, etc.; its next layer of subdivision, being the second layer, is invariably into units called seconds, represented by double hash marks.

length ¹/₆₀ of 1 degree of a great circle of Earth, being 1 minute of longitude along the Equator and equivalent elsewhere, particularly meridionally, approximately 1.85 km or 1.11 mi (essentially the geographic mile and nautical mile). Also a minute of longitude along an identified parallel of latitude, which means a lesser and progressively declining length as latitude increases. Specific values include:

longitude	along Equator	1.854 93~ km (1.152 60~ mi)
latitude	near Equator	1.842 52~ km (1.144 89~ mi)
latitude	near Pole	1.861 15~ km (1.156 46~ mi)

The minute of latitude probably set the size of the early fathom, foot, etc.

time. Symbol min in the SI. Traditionally ¹/₆₀ of an hour, thereby ¹/₁₄₄₀ of a day (a unit varying in size depending on qualifier) and sized by such fractioning. Since 1967, however, the minute of normal usage (derived from the mean solar day), routinely equalling 60 seconds, has been defined from the atomic second. (See leap second for exceptions to the number 60.)

plane angle (also arcmin, minute of arc) The first layer of fractioning the degree, the traditional measure of plane angle, by definition = ^1°/₆₀ = 0.016 667~°, = π/(60 × 180) rad = 0.000 290 89~ rad.

astronomy Note that minute for right ascension is the minute of the sidereal clock, while for declination and most other purposes it is the minute of plane angle; the two differ by a ratio of 1:15.

See also centesimal minute.

Architecture: minute

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One division of a module, 3.

Sports Science and Medicine: minute

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1. Unit of time.

2. Unit of angular measurement equivalent to 1/60 of a degree.

Veterinary Dictionary: minute

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Very small.

m. canine virus (MCV) — see canine parvovirus type 1.
m. mouse virus — a parvovirus recovered from mice. Experimental infection of neonatal or fetal mice causes runting and cerebellar hypoplasia, but natural infection has not been associated with clinical disease. Sometimes referred to as the ‘mini-mouse’ virus.

Unit Conversions: minutes (angles)

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To convert from minutes (angles) to:

degrees, multiply by .01667.
quadrants, multiply by 1.852E-04.
radians, multiply by 2.909E-04.
seconds, multiply by 60.

Word Tutor: minute

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IN BRIEF: One sixtieth of an hour. Also: Very small.

Reputations are created every day and every minute. — Christopher Ruel.

Tutor's tip: Take a minute (short i, short u) to read the minute (long I, oo for u) print. The two uses of minute are pronounced very differently.

Wikipedia: Minute of arc

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This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006)

The factual accuracy of this article may be compromised by unit conversions quoted to a greater precision than can be justified from the original data. Please help improve this article by truncating values to a suitable number of significant figures.

A minute of arc or arcminute (MOA) is a unit of angular measurement, equal to one sixtieth (1/60) of one degree.^[1] Since one degree is defined as one three hundred sixtieth (1/360) of a circle, 1 minute of arc is 1/21,600 of the amount of arc in a closed circle. It is used in those fields which require a unit for the expression of small angles, such as astronomy or marksmanship.

There are approximately 148,510,660.498 square arcminutes in a complete sphere.

1 Symbols, abbreviations and subdivisions
2 Uses
3 References

Symbols, abbreviations and subdivisions

The standard symbol for marking the arcminute is the prime (′) (U+2032), though a single quote (') (U+0027) is commonly used where only ASCII characters are permitted. One arcminute is thus written 1′. It is also abbreviated as arcmin or amin or, less commonly, the prime with a circumflex over it ( $\hat{'}$ ).

The subdivision of the minute of arc is the second of arc, or arcsecond. There are 60 arcseconds in an arcminute. Therefore, the arcsecond is 1/1296000 of a circle, or (π/648000) radians, which is approximately 1/206265 radian. The symbol for the arcsecond is the double prime (″) (U+2033). To express even smaller angles, standard SI prefixes can be employed; in particular, the milliarcsecond, abbreviated mas, is sometimes used in astronomy.

**The sexagesimal system of angular measurement**
unit	value	symbol	abbreviations	in radians (approx.)
degree	1/360 circle	°	deg	17.4532925 mrad
arcminute	1/60 degree	′ (prime)	arcmin, amin, $\hat{'}$ , MOA	290.8882087 µrad
arcsecond	1/60 arcminute	″ (double prime)	arcsec	4.8481368 µrad
milliarcsecond	1/1000 arcsecond		mas	4.8481368 nrad

Uses

Firearms

The arcminute is commonly found in the firearms industry and literature, particularly that concerning the accuracy of rifles, though the industry tends to refer to it as minute of angle. It is popular because 1 MOA subtends approximately one inch at 100 yards, a traditional distance on target ranges. A shooter can easily readjust his rifle scope by measuring the distance in inches the bullet hole is from the desired impact point, and adjusting the scope that many MOA in the same direction. Most target scopes designed for long distances are adjustable in quarter (¼) or eighth (⅛) MOA "clicks". One eighth MOA is equal to approximately an eighth of an inch at 100 yards or one inch at 800 yards.

Calculating the physical equivalent group size equal to one minute of arc can be done using the equation: equivalent group size = tan(MOA/60) × distance. In the example previously given and substituting 3600 inches for 100 yards, tan(1 MOA/60) ∙ 3600 inches = 1.0471975511966 inches.

In metric units 1 MOA at 100 meters = 2.90888208665722 centimeters.

Sometimes, a firearm's accuracy will be measured in MOA. This simply means that under ideal conditions, the gun with certain ammunition is capable of producing a group of shots whose center points (center-to-center) fit into a circle, the average diameter of circles in several groups can be subtended by that amount of arc. (E.g.: a "1 MOA rifle" should be capable, under ideal conditions, of shooting an average 1-inch groups at 100 yards, a "2 MOA rifle" a average 2-inch groups at 100 yards, etc.) Some manufacturers such as Weatherby and Cooper offer actual guarantees of real-world MOA performance.

Rifle manufacturers and gun magazines often refer to this capability as "Sub-MOA", meaning it shoots under 1 MOA. This is typically a single group of 3 to 5 shots at 100 yards, or the average of several groups. If larger samples are taken, i.e. more shots per group, then group size typically increases.^[2]^[3]

For example mathematical statistical calculation yields the following accuracy for exactly the same rifle and ammunition combination (standard deviations of every shot from center is 1 MOA):

for 2-shot groups - 1.77 MOA
for 3-shot groups - 2.41 MOA
for 5-shot groups - 3.07 MOA
for 10-shot groups - 3.81 MOA
for 20-shot groups - 4.45 MOA
for 100-shot groups - 5.69 MOA

Cartography

Minutes of angle (and its subunit, seconds of angle or SOA—equal to a sixtieth of a MOA) are also used in cartography and navigation. At sea level, one minute of angle (around the equator or a meridian) equals about 1.86 km or 1.15 miles, approximately one nautical mile (approximately, because the Earth is slightly oblate); a second of angle is one sixtieth of this amount: about 30 meters or 100 feet.

Traditionally positions are given using degrees, minutes, and seconds of angles in two measurements: one for latitude, the angle north or south of the equator; and one for longitude, the angle east or west of the Prime Meridian. Using this method, any position on or above the Earth's reference ellipsoid can be precisely given. However, because of the somewhat clumsy base-60 nature of MOA and SOA, many people now prefer to give positions using degrees only, expressed in decimal form to an equal amount of precision. Degrees, given to three decimal places (1/1000 of a degree), have about 1/4 the precision as degrees-minutes-seconds (1/3600 of a degree), and so identify locations within about 120 meters or 400 feet.

Property surveying

Related to cartography, property boundary surveying using the metes and bounds system relies on fractions of a degree to describe property lines' angles in reference to cardinal directions. A boundary "mete" is described with a beginning reference point, the cardinal direction North or South followed by an angle less than 90 degrees and a second cardinal direction, and a linear distance. The boundary runs the specified linear distance from the beginning point, the direction of the distance being determined by rotating the first cardinal direction the specified angle toward the second cardinal direction. For example, North 65° 39′ 18″ West 85.69 feet would describe a line running from the starting point 85.69 feet in a direction 65° 39′ 18″ (or 65.655°) away from north toward the west.

Astronomy

The arcminute and arcsecond are also used in astronomy. Degrees (and therefore arcminutes) are used to measure declination, or angular distance north or south of the celestial equator. The arcsecond is also often used to describe parallax, due to very small parallax angles, and tiny angular diameters (e.g. Venus varies between 10″ and 60″). The parallax, proper motion and angular diameter of a star may also be written in milliarcseconds (mas), or thousandths of an arcsecond. The parsec gets its name from "parallax second", for those arcseconds.

Apart from the sun, the star with the largest angular diameter from Earth is R Doradus, a red supergiant with a diameter of 0.05 arcseconds. Due to the effects of atmospheric seeing, ground-based telescopes will smear the image of a star to an angular diameter of about 0.5 arcsecond; in poor seeing conditions this increases to 1.5 arcseconds or even more.

Space telescopes are not affected by the Earth's atmosphere, but are diffraction limited; for example the Hubble space telescope can reach an angular size of stars down to about 0.1". Techniques exist for improving seeing on the ground, for example adaptive optics, which can give images around 0.05 arcsecond on a 10 m class telescope.

Human vision

In humans, 20/20 vision is the ability to resolve a spatial pattern separated by a visual angle of one minute of arc.

References

This article uses bare URLs. Please help improve this article by turning bare URLs into proper citations containing all of the information on the referenced work's title, date, publisher, publication, and author, so that the article remains verifiable in the future. (There are several templates available that can help to make formatting such citations simple.)
This page may also be able to help find problematic links. (May 2009)

^ WordNet Search - 3.0
^ Wheeler, Robert E.. "Statistical notes on rifle group patterns". http://www.bobwheeler.com/guns/GroupStat.pdf. Retrieved on May 21, 2009.
^ Bramwell, Denton (January 2009). "Group Therapy The Problem: How accurate is your rifle?". Varmint Hunter 69. http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/accurate-rifle-groups-1.php. Retrieved on May 21, 2009.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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Translations: Minute

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Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - minut

idioms:

at any minute hvert minut
just a minute blot et minut
last minute sidste minut
minute hand minutviser
the next minute næste minut
up to the minute med på det sidste nye
Wait a minute lige et øjeblik, vent lidt!

2.
adj. - meget lille, ubetydelig

3.
n. - referat, notat, protokol
v. tr. - referere, protokollere

idioms:

draw up the minutes udarbejde referat
take minutes tage referat, føre protokol

Nederlands (Dutch)
minuut, minutieus, aantekening, nota, piepklein, notuleren, noteren

Français (French)
1.
n. - minute, instant, (Géog, Math) minute

idioms:

any minute d'une minute à l'autre
at the minute à la minute
by the minute à la minute
just a minute une minute
last minute dernière minute
minute hand aiguille des minutes
not for a minute pas pour un seul instant
the minute pile (à heure)
the next minute l'instant d'après
this minute immédiatement, à l'instant
up to the minute à la minute près, à la dernière (mode)
Wait a minute un instant, attendez une minute/un instant/un moment, minute (excl) (d'indignation)

2.
adj. - minuscule, infime, minime

3.
n. - (Jur) minutes, procès-verbal, (Admin) compte-rendu
v. tr. - inscrire au procès-verbal

idioms:

draw up the minutes rédiger le compte-rendu
take minutes rédiger le compte-rendu

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Minute, Moment

idioms:

any minute im kurzen
at the minute momentan, im Moment
by the minute auf die Minute
just a minute einen Augenblick!
last minute letzte Minute
minute hand Minutenzeiger
not for a minute keinesfalls
the minute der Augenblick
the next minute gleich darauf
this minute jetzt!, sofort!
up to the minute hochaktuell
Wait a minute einen Augenblick!

2.
adj. - minuziös, winzig, unbedeutend

3.
n. - Notiz, Protokoll
v. - protokollieren

idioms:

draw up the minutes Protokoll führen
take minutes protokollieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - λεπτό (της ώρας ή της μοίρας), (χρονική) στιγμή, (πληθ.) πεπραγμένα, πρακτικά (συνεδρίασης κ.λπ.)
v. - προσδιορίζω χρονικά, χρονομετρώ, τηρώ/κρατώ πρακτικά, κοινοποιώ πρακτικά
adj. - μικροσκοπικός, λεπτομερειακός, λεπτομερής

idioms:

at any minute από λεπτό σε λεπτό
draw up the minutes κρατώ πρακτικά
just a minute (για στάσου) μια στιγμή!
last minute της τελευταίας στιγμής
minute hand λεπτοδείκτης ρολογιού
take minutes κρατώ πρακτικά
the next minute την επόμενη στιγμή
up to the minute της τελευταίας ώρας
Wait a minute Για μια στιγμή

Italiano (Italian)
appunti, minuto, momento

idioms:

at any minute fra poco
draw up the minutes tenere i verbali
just a minute un momento
last minute ultimo momento
minute hand lancetta dei minuti
take minutes prendere nota
the next minute subito dopo
Wait a minute! aspetta un momento!

Português (Portuguese)
n. - minuto (m)
v. - cronometrar, lavrar ata
adj. - miúdo, insignificante

idioms:

at any minute a qualquer momento
draw up the minutes parar um pouco
just a minute só um minuto
last minute no último instante
minute hand ponteiro de minutos (m)
take minutes redigir minuta (de reunião)
the next minute no minuto seguinte
up to the minute de última hora
Wait a minute! Aguarde um minuto!

Русский (Russian)
минута, короткий промежуток времени, короткая запись, протокол, хронометрировать, вести протокол, мелкий, подробный, незначительный

idioms:

at any minute с минуты на минуты
draw up the minutes вести протокол
just a minute секундочку!
last minute последний момент
minute hand минутная стрелка
take minutes длиться
the next minute следующий момент
up to the minute последний (о новостях, информации и пр.)
Wait a minute! Обождите минутку!

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - minuto, momento, instante

idioms:

any minute de un momento a otro, en cualquier momento, en cualquier instante
at the minute en el momento
by the minute por minuto
just a minute ¡un momento!
last minute a última hora
minute hand minutero
not for a minute ni por un momento
the minute en el momento que, en el instante que
the next minute al instante, inmediatamente después, muy pronto, luego, inmediatamente
this minute este momento, este instante
up to the minute muy actualizado
Wait a minute espera un momento, ¡un momento!, ¡momentito!, espera un minuto!

2.
adj. - diminuto, muy pequeño, menudo, minucioso

3.
n. - actas, minuta
v. tr. - cronometrar, minutar, anotar, poner en el acta

idioms:

draw up the minutes preparar o redactar las actas
take minutes llevar actas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - minut, anteckning
v. - ta tid på, notera
adj. - minimal, hårfin, minutiös

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 分, 一会儿, 片刻, 备忘录, 将...记录下来, 将...记入会议记录

idioms:

at any minute 在任何时候, 随时
draw up the minutes 记下会议记录
just a minute 请等一会儿, 请稍待片刻
last minute 最后一刻, 紧急关头
minute hand 分针
take minutes 作记录
the next minute 下一刻
up to the minute 最新
Wait a minute 等一下

2. 微小的, 详细的, 琐细的, 精密的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 分, 一會兒, 片刻, 備忘錄
v. tr. - 將...記錄下來, 將...記入會議記錄

idioms:

at any minute 在任何時候, 隨時
draw up the minutes 記下會議記錄
just a minute 請等一會兒, 請稍待片刻
last minute 最後一刻, 緊急關頭
minute hand 分針
take minutes 作記錄
the next minute 下一刻
up to the minute 最新
Wait a minute 等一下

2.
adj. - 微小的, 詳細的, 瑣細的, 精密的

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 60초, 순간

idioms:

at any minute 지금 당장이라도
the next minute 다음에
up to the minute 유행에 맞는

2.
adj. - 매우 작은

3.
v. tr. - 회의록에 기록하다

idioms:

draw up the minutes 회의록을 작성하다
take minutes 회의록에 기록하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 分, 一瞬, 覚書, 控え, 議事録, ちょっとの間, 草稿, 覚え書き
adj. - 急ごしらえの, 微小な, 微細な, 詳細な, 綿密な, 取るに足らない
v. - 書き留める, 草案を作成する

idioms:

at any minute 今すぐにでも
minute hand 分針
take minutes 時間をかける
up to the minute 最新の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) دقيقه, دقيق, وقائع, جلسات (فعل) يدون كوقائع (صفه) صغير جدا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮דקה‬
adj. - ‮זעיר, מדוקדק, מפורט‬
n. - ‮תקציר דיון, זיכרון-דברים, פרוטוקול‬
v. tr. - ‮רשם או ערך זכרון-דברים‬

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Best of the Web: minute

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Some good "minute" pages on the web:

American Sign Language
commtechlab.msu.edu

Math
mathworld.wolfram.com

Shopping: minute

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oakley minute	five minute manicure
minute repeater	black minute pearls

Did you mean: minute, Minute, minute, Minute (performed by Pat McGee Band), Minutes, minutes, Minutes (album)

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Help us answer these

	You perform an experiment to determine how many breaths a fish takes per minute What if your experiment yields the following dara minute 165 breaths minute 273 breaths minute 471 breaths minute 562?
	A mean of 950 words per minute and a standard deviation equal to 220 words per minute what is the probability of a student reading at more than 1400 words per minute after finishing the course?
	What does 6 respirations per minute then quickly change to 16 resp per minute then back to 6 respirations per minute usually mean?

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Copyrights:

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more
		Measures and Units. A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units. Copyright © Donald Fenna 2002, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more
		Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Sports Science and Medicine. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Copyright © Michael Kent 1998, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved. Read more
		Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more
		Unit Conversions. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more
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minute

Contents

Symbols, abbreviations and subdivisions

Uses

Firearms

Cartography

Property surveying

Astronomy

Human vision

References