Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Minor \Mi"nor\, 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. ?,
Skr. mi to damage. Cf. {Minish}, {Minister}, {Minus},
{Minute}.]
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, ^{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:
Source : WordNet®
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}]