<B>minicar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a compact car seating two persons. </DL>
<A NAME="minicell">
<B>minicell, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small bacterial cell produced by an abnormal division process and able to transfer episomes from and into normal cells. </DL>
<A NAME="minicomputer">
<B>minicomputer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small, low-cost, general-purpose computer. </DL>
<A NAME="minidress">
<B>minidress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a very short dress, above the knee. </DL>
<A NAME="minieball">
<B>Minie ball</B> or <B>bullet,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a conical bullet with a hollow base which expands, when fired, to fit the rifling of the gun. </DL>
<A NAME="minification">
<B>minification, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or process of making smaller; lessening. </DL>
<A NAME="minify">
<B>minify, </B>transitive verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make less. <BR> <I>Ex. The pliancy of Congress ... during the past two sessions has greatly minified the importance of that body in the eyes of the public (Baltimore Sun).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minikin">
<B>minikin, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Archaic.) a small or insignificant thing; a diminutive creature. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) a pretty girl. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>dainty; elegant. <DD><B> 2. </B>affected; mincing. <DD><B> 3. </B>diminutive; miniature; tiny. <BR> <I>Ex. In the distance ... the farmsteads minikin as if they were the fairy-finest to be packed in a box (John Ruskin).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minim">
<B>minim, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the smallest unit of liquid measure, equal to 1/60 of a fluid dram, or about a drop, or 0.0616 milliliter. <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) a half note in music. <DD><B> 3. </B>a very small amount; the least possible portion; jot. <DD><B> 4. </B>a very small or insignificant person or thing. <BR> <I>Ex. Not all minims of nature; some of serpent kind, Wondrous in length and corpulence (Milton).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>a single stroke made vertically downward in writing by hand, as either of the two strokes in <I>n.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> extremely small; smallest. </DL>
<A NAME="minim">
<B>Minim, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a mendicant friar of the Order of Least Hermits, founded in the 1400's by Saint Francis of Paula (1416-1507). </DL>
<A NAME="minima">
<B>minima, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> minimums; a plural of <B>minimum.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="minimal">
<B>minimal, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>least possible; very small; having to do with a minimum. <BR> <I>Ex. minimal damage, a minimal cost.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with minimal art. <BR> <I>Ex. Minimal forms still massively demand their unrewarding space (Time).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B><B>=minimal art.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>a work of minimal art. adv. <B>minimally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="minimalart">
<B>minimal art,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of painting and sculpture in which the simplest or most basic shapes, colors, or materials are used. <BR> <I>Ex. Sculptors have produced forms in aluminum, plastics, and other industrial materials which remain severely geometrical, deliberately anonymous, and almost totally impersonal. Such work has been called minimal art (Sir Herbert Read).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minimalartist">
<B>minimal artist,</B> =minimalist.</DL>
<A NAME="minimalism">
<B>minimalism, </B>noun. =minimal art.</DL>
<A NAME="minimalist">
<B>minimalist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a person who produces minimal art. <BR> <I>Ex. Minimalists do the minimum. That's it with the minimum waste of words (Sunday Times).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with minimalists or minimal art. <BR> <I>Ex. the original minimalist sculptor.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minimalist">
<B>Minimalist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a less radical section of the former Social Revolutionary Party in Russia about 1903. </DL>
<A NAME="minimax">
<B>minimax, </B>noun, adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>that strategy in the theory of games which provides the minimum of a player's maximum possible losses (contrasted with <I>maximin</I>). <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=minimax theorem.</B> <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with or based on the minimax theorem. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to apply the minimax theorem. </DL>
<A NAME="minimaxtheorem">
<B>minimax theorem,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a principle in the theory of games which states that in an optimal strategy one player plays so as to minimize his maximum losses and the other plays so as to maximize his minimum gains. <BR> <I>Ex. It was not until 1926 that John von Neumann gave his proof of the minimax theorem, the fundamental theorem of game theory (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minimi">
<B>minimi, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> plural of <B>minimus.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="minimill">
<B>minimill, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small manufacturing plant that produces steel from scrap. <BR> <I>Ex. Steel became more recyclable than ever in the 1980's when facilities called minimills sprang up in many parts of the United States (Jon R. Luoma).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="miniminded">
<B>miniminded, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>mindless; stupid. <BR> <I>Ex. the public's insatiable appetite for ... miniminded movies that ... make no statements bulkier than "Beware of the Shark!" (Guy Flatley).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=small-minded.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. The obscene horror of [the hanging] might have inhibited the cries of miniminded persons in this country who want to "bring back the rope" (Donald Gould).</I> </DL>
<B>minimize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-mized,</B> <B>-mizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to reduce to the least possible amount or degree. <BR> <I>Ex. The polar explorers took every precaution to minimize the dangers of their trip.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to state or represent at the lowest possible estimate; make the least of. <BR> <I>Ex. An ungrateful person minimizes the help others have given him.</I> (SYN) belittle. noun <B>minimization.</B> noun <B>minimizer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="minimum">
<B>minimum, </B>noun, pl. <B>-mums</B> or <B>-ma,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>the least possible amount; lowest amount. <BR> <I>Ex. Each of the children had to drink some milk at breakfast; half a glass was the minimum.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the lowest amount of variation attained or recorded. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Mathematics.) a value of a function less than any values close to it. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>least possible. <BR> <I>Ex. Eighteen is the minimum age for voting.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>lowest. <BR> <I>Ex. the minimum rate.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minimumpurchase">
<B>minimum purchase,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a minimum amount of gasoline sold to each purchaser to prevent an automobile driver from buying small amounts of gas to fill a gas tank that is nearly full. <BR> <I>Ex. Several states including New Jersey are intensifying efforts to make sure that gasoline stations comply with "minimum purchase" rules (The Christian Science Monitor).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minimumwage">
<B>minimum wage,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the wage agreed upon or fixed by law as the lowest payable to certain employees. <BR> <I>Ex. The men wanted a minimum wage of two dollars an hour.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=living wage.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="minimus">
<B>minimus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-mi.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very small or insignificant creature. <BR> <I>Ex. Get you gone, you dwarf, You minimus (Shakespeare).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mining">
<B>mining, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the working of mines for ores, coal, or other minerals. <BR> <I>Ex. Mining is very dangerous work.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the business of digging coal or ores from mines. <BR> <I>Ex. Mining is a very profitable business.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the laying of explosive mines. <BR> <I>Ex. The mining of a harbor can be a defense against enemy attack or an attack against the enemy's harbor.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="miningengineering">
<B>mining engineering,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a branch of engineering that deals with the discovery of mineral deposits, their removal from the earth, and the preparation of minerals for commercial use. </DL>
<A NAME="minion">
<B>minion, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a servant or follower willing to do whatever he is ordered to do by his master; henchman. <BR> <I>Ex. It is no wonder if he helps himself from the city treasury and allows his minions to do so (James Bryce). Let us be Diana's foresters ... minions of the moon (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) lackey. <DD><B> 2. </B>a favorite person or animal; darling; beloved; idol (a contemptuous use). <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) A son ... Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a size of printing type; 7 point. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) a lady love, especially a mistress or paramour. <DD><I>adj. </I> dainty; elegant. </DL>
<A NAME="minionofthelaw">
<B>minion of the law,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a policeman. </DL>
<A NAME="minipill">
<B>minipill, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a pill containing a very low dose of a drug, especially an oral contraceptive having only one-tenth of the progesterone and none of the estrogen present in larger pills. </DL>
<B>miniseries, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a short serial, especially on television. <BR> <I>Ex. Miniseries--a series of programs that would end after six, eight, 10 or whatever number [of programs] the writers feel necessary ... to tell one complete story (TV Guide).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="minish">
<B>minish,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make less or fewer; diminish. <BR> <I>Ex. Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task (Exodus 5:19).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to become less; diminish. </DL>
<A NAME="miniski">
<B>mini-ski, </B>noun, pl. <B>-skis</B> or <B>-ski.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a short ski worn by beginners or in ski bobbing. </DL>
<A NAME="miniskirt">
<B>miniskirt, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a very short skirt, several inches above the knee. <DD><B> 2. </B>a dress with such a skirt; minidress. <BR> <I>Ex. A lady of forty-eight doesn't look as good or as fresh in miniskirts as a girl of eighteen (Irving Howe).</I> </DL>
