| minute | 1. The sixtieth part of an hour; sixty seconds. (Abbrev. M.; as, 4 h. 30 m) "Four minutes, that is to say, minutes of an hour." (Chaucer) 2. The sixtieth part of a degree; sixty seconds (Marked thus ('); as, 10 deg 20') 3. A nautical or a geographic mile. 4. A coin; a half farthing. 5. A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a tittle. "Minutes and circumstances of his passion." (Jer. Taylor) 6. A point of time; a moment. "I go this minute to attend the king." (Dryden) 7. 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. 8. A fixed part of a module. See Module. Different writers take as the minute one twelfth, one eighteenth, one thirtieth, or one sixtieth part of the module. Origin: LL. Minuta a small portion, small coin, fr. L. Minutus small: cf. F. Minute. See 4th Minute. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| minute mutant | <genetics, molecular biology> A class of recessive lethal mutants of Drosophila The heterozygotes grow more slowly, are smaller and less fertile than the wild type flies. There are about 40 loci that produce minute mutants. (18 Nov 1997) |
| minute output | A measurement of the blood flow through the heart to the systemic (and pulmonary) circulation. Cardiac output is expressed as volume of blood per unit time or litres/minute. Cardiac output can be calculated using the Fick method (oxygen consumption divided by arteriovenous oxygen difference) or by the thermodilution technique, using a Swan-Ganz catheter. (27 Sep 1997) |
| minute volume | The volume of any gas or fluid moved per minute; e.g., cardiac output or the respiratory minute volume. (05 Mar 2000) |
| respiratory minute volume | The minute volume of breathing; the product of tidal volume times the respiratory frequency. See: pulmonary ventilation. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| mice minute virus | The type species of parvovirus prevalent in mouse colonies and found as a contaminant of many transplanted tumours or leukaemias. (12 Dec 1998) |
| double minute | <molecular biology> Small pieces of a chromosome containing many copies of the same gene. (09 Oct 1997) |
| double minute chromosomes | <genetics, molecular biology> Paired, extrachromosomal elements lacking centromeres, often associated with a drug resistance gene. (05 Mar 2000) |