The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minute \Min"ute\, a.
   Of or pertaining to a minute or minutes; occurring at or
   marking successive minutes.
   [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minute \Min"ute\ (?; 277), n. [LL. minuta a small portion, small
   coin, fr. L. minutus small: cf. F. minute. See 4th Minute.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. m.
      or min.; as, 4 h. 30 m.)
      [1913 Webster]

            Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus
      ('); as, 10[deg] 20').
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A nautical or a geographic mile.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A coin; a half farthing. [Obs.] --Wyclif (Mark xii. 42)
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a
      jot; a tittle. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Minutes and circumstances of his passion. --Jer.
                                                  Taylor.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. A point of time; a moment.
      [1913 Webster]

            I go this minute to attend the king.  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   7. pl. 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; to read the
      minutes of the last meeting.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. (Arch.) A fixed part of a module. See Module.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one
         eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the
         module.
         [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minute \Min"ute\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Minuted; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Minuting.]
   To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a
   minute or a brief summary of.
   [1913 Webster]

         The Empress of Russia, with her own hand, minuted an
         edict for universal tolerance.           --Bancroft.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Minute \Mi*nute"\ (m[imac]*n[=u]t" or m[i^]*n[=u]t"), a. [L.
   minutus, p. p. of minuere to lessen. See Minish, Minor,
   and cf. Menu, Minuet.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Very small; little; tiny; fine; slight; slender;
      inconsiderable; as, minute details. "Minute drops."
      --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Attentive to small things; paying attention to details;
      critical; particular; precise; as, a minute observer;
      minute observation.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Little; diminutive; fine; critical; exact;
        circumstantial; particular; detailed.

   Usage: 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.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

minute
    adj 1: infinitely or immeasurably small; "two minute whiplike
           threads of protoplasm"; "reduced to a microscopic scale"
           [syn: infinitesimal, minute]
    2: characterized by painstaking care and detailed examination;
       "a minute inspection of the grounds"; "a narrow scrutiny";
       "an exact and minute report" [syn: minute, narrow]
    n 1: a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour;
         "he ran a 4 minute mile" [syn: minute, min]
    2: an indefinitely short time; "wait just a moment"; "in a mo";
       "it only takes a minute"; "in just a bit" [syn: moment,
       mo, minute, second, bit]
    3: a particular point in time; "the moment he arrived the party
       began" [syn: moment, minute, second, instant]
    4: a unit of angular distance equal to a 60th of a degree [syn:
       minute, arcminute, minute of arc]
    5: a short note; "the secretary keeps the minutes of the
       meeting"
    6: distance measured by the time taken to cover it; "we live an
       hour from the airport"; "its just 10 minutes away" [syn:
       hour, minute]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

325 Moby Thesaurus words for "minute":
   Lilliputian, absolute, abundant year, academic year, accurate,
   all the rage, annum, attentive, baby, back-burner, balance,
   balance the books, bantam, bell, bissextile year, bitsy, bitty,
   blow-by-blow, book, breath, breathing, calendar, calendar month,
   calendar year, capitalize, careful, carry, carry over, carve,
   cast up accounts, catalog, ceaseless, century, certain, chalk,
   chalk up, charge off, check in, chronicle, close, close out,
   close the books, common year, concrete, conscientious, constant,
   continuous, cool, correct, coup, crack, credit, critical, cut, day,
   debit, decade, decennary, decennium, defective year, defined,
   definite, delicate, demanding, detailed, determinate, different,
   diminutive, dinky, dispensable, distinct, distinguished, docket,
   document, double entry, engrave, enroll, enscroll, enter, entry,
   esoteric, especial, exact, exacting, exceptional, exigent, express,
   exquisite, extraordinary, fashionable, fateful moment, file,
   fill out, fine, finical, finicking, finicky, fiscal year, fixed,
   flash, fortnight, full, fussy, grave, half a jiffy, half a mo,
   half a second, half a shake, hep, hip, hot, hour, immaterial,
   impanel, in, in fashion, in style, in vogue, inappreciable,
   incessant, incise, inconsequential, inconsiderable, index,
   individual, inessential, inferior, infinitesimal, inner, inscribe,
   insert, insignificant, instant, interminable, interval, intimate,
   irrelevant, item, itemized, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, jiff, jiffy,
   jot down, journal, journalize, juncture, kairos, keep books,
   latest, leap year, least, light, list, little, log, lunar month,
   lunar year, lunation, luster, lustrum, make a memorandum,
   make a note, make an entry, make out, man-hour, mark down,
   matriculate, memorandum, mere, meticulous, micro, microscopic,
   microsecond, millennium, millisecond, mini, miniature, minor,
   minuscule, minutely, minutes, modern, moment, moment of truth,
   month, moon, narrow, negligible, newest, nice, nonessential,
   not vital, notation, note, note down, notes, noteworthy, now,
   particular, particularized, peewee, period, personal, petit, petty,
   picayune, piddling, pint-sized, place upon record, point, poll,
   post, post up, precise, precisianistic, precisionistic,
   pregnant moment, private, proceedings, psychological moment,
   punctilious, punctual, put down, put in writing, put on paper,
   put on tape, quarter, quinquennium, record, reduce to writing,
   refined, register, regular year, religious, respective, resume,
   rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, scrutinizing, season, sec, second,
   semester, session, set down, several, shake, sidereal year,
   single entry, singular, slight, small, small-beer, smart,
   solar year, solipsistic, space, span, special, specific, spell,
   split second, stage, stretch, strict, strike a balance, stroke,
   stylish, subtle, summary, sun, tabulate, take down, tape,
   tape-record, technical, teensy-weensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, term,
   the time, thorough, tick, time, time lag, time of day, time signal,
   tiniest, tiny, transactions, transcribe, transcript, trendy, trice,
   trifling, trimester, trivial, twelvemonth, twink, twinkle,
   twinkling, twitch, two shakes, unceasing, unessential, unimportant,
   unimpressive, unintermitted, uninterrupted, unnoteworthy,
   videotape, wee, week, weekday, while, wink, with it, write,
   write down, write in, write out, write up, year



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MINUTE, measures. In divisions of the circle or angular measures, a minute
is equal to sixty seconds, or one sixtieth part of a degree.
     2. In the computation of time, a minute is equal to sixty seconds, or
the sixtieth part of an hour. Vide Measure.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

MINUTE, practice. A memorandum of what takes place in court; made by
authority of the court. From these minutes the record is afterwards made up.
     2. Toullier says, they are so called because the writing in which they
were originally, was small, that the word is derived, from the Latin minuta,
(scriptura) in opposition to copies which were delivered to the parties, and
which were always written in a larger hand. 8 Toull. n. 413.
     3. Minutes are not considered as any part of the record. 1 Ohio R. 268.
See 23 Pick. R. 184.