minimum, n. and a.
(ˈmɪnɪməm)
Pl. minima (ˈmɪnɪmə); 7–8 erron. minimaes, minima's.
[a. L. minimum, neut. of minimus least, smallest: see minim.]
A. n.
† 1. Nat. Philos. The smallest portion into which matter is divisible; an atom. Also, the hypothetical smallest possible portion of time or space. Obs.
| 1663 Harvey Archæol. Philos. Nova ii. i. vi. 29 For minima's are indivisibles, otherwise they could not be minima. Ibid. 30 There is a minimum and maximum in all natural bodies. Ibid. vii. 32 Neither are we to imagine, that God did create all the minima's of the world, before he united them to one Mass. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 19 Why do they [atoms] decline the least interval that may be, and not a greater? Why not two or three minima as well as one? 1739 Hume Hum. Nat. i. ii. §1 (1888) 27 The imagination reaches a minimum, and may raise up to itself an idea, of which it cannot conceive any sub-division. Ibid., Because they are remov'd beyond that distance, at which their impressions were reduc'd to a minimum, and were incapable of any farther diminution. |
b. A creature of the smallest size.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1796 Mod. Gulliver 25 Architecture must have been a science earlily studied by these minimæs of mankind. |
2. The least amount attainable, allowable, usual, etc. Also in the phrase
to reduce to a minimum.
| 1676 W. Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xii. (1848) 390 That was the minimum that was to be required of every intrant. 1740, 1806 [see maximum 2]. 1823 Bentham Not Paul 128 Of the length of this interval three years is the minimum. 1857 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 323 The maximum of bother to arrive at the minimum of comfort. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 217 Means should be provided..to reduce the recoil of the waves to a minimum. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xlvi, The minimum of time had been given him for decision. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. i. 20 Her motion, and consequently her vis viva, is then a minimum. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 29 Jan. 11/3 About 60 per cent. of the parcels which we [barge-owners] carry are what is known as minimums of twenty tons. 1903 H. B. Swete in Expositor June 412 There must be at least two disciples acting in Christian fellowship... But this minimum is assured of Christ's presence no less than the largest congregation. |
‖ 3. Psychol. In
mod. Latin phrases
minimum audibile,
minimum sensibile,
minimum tangibile,
minimum visibile (see
quots.).
| 1709 Berkeley Th. Vision §54 There is a Minimum Tangibile, and a Minimum Visibile, beyond which Sense cannot perceive. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xviii. (1859) I. 350 The minimum visibile is the smallest expanse..which can consciously affect us,—which we can be conscious of seeing. Ibid., In this sense [of hearing], there is, in like manner, a Minimum Audibile, that is, a sound the least which can come into perception and consciousness. 1874 J. Sully Sensation & Intuition 45 Impressions of sound and light,..which approached very closely the minimum sensibile. |
4. Math. = minimum value: see B. below.
| 1743 Emerson Fluxions 123 When a Quantity is required to be the greatest or least possible, under certain Conditions, it is called a Maximum or Minimum. 1807 Hutton Course Math. II. 304 Others again decrease continually; and so have no minimum... But, on the other hand, some..decrease to a certain finite magnitude, called their Minimum, or least state... And lastly, some quantities have several maxima and minima. |
5. The lowest amount or degree of variation (of temperature, a spectrum, etc.) attained or recorded.
| 1823 J. Mitchell Dict. Math. & Phys. Sci. 512/1 On increase of temperature, the spirit [in the thermometer] goes forward and leaves the index, which therefore shows the minimum of temperature since it was set. 1831 Brewster Optics vii. 73 The two Minima of each of the three primary spectra coincide at the two extremities of the solar spectrum. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) vii. §348 At the same hours, the needle attains the maxima and minima of its diurnal variations. 1894 W. L. Dallas in Indian Meteorol. Mem. VI. 2 The heat given out by the sun goes through a cycle which reaches..its minimum at the time of minimum sunspots. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
minimum period;
minimum thermometer, one which records automatically the lowest point to which the temperature has fallen since its last adjustment.
| 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 113 A minimum-thermometer. 1868 [see maximum 5 b]. |
B. adj. a. [The
n. used appositively.] That is a minimum; that is the lowest attainable, allowable, usual, etc.
| 1810 [see minimum rate in sense b]. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 301 Its minimum height from the sea is 900 feet. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 849 The rule is to begin with a minimum dose. 1904 Daily News 25 Feb. 12/3 Parliament..has enacted that a minimum number of trains with a minimum mileage shall be run. |
b. Special collocations:
minimum rate,
minimum wage;
minimum free form (see
quot. 1926);
minimum lending rate Econ., the minimum percentage at which a central bank will discount bills; in Britain, an official successor to bank-rate (see
bank n.3 8 b), whose level was determined by the Government from October 1972 until August 1981;
cf. MLR s.v. M 5;
minimum value (of a function)
Math., its value when it ceases to decrease and begins to increase, as the value of the variable changes continuously;
minimum vocabulary (see
quot. 1944).
| 1926 L. Bloomfield in C. F. Hockett Leonard Bloomfield Anthol. (1970) 130 A minimum free form is a word..which may be uttered alone (with meaning) but cannot be analyzed into parts that may (all of them) be uttered alone (with meaning). 1958 C. F. Hockett Course in Mod. Ling. xix. 171 Minimum free forms and lexemes also do not meet this requirement. |
| 1972 Times 14 Oct. 21/8 The Bank of England's minimum lending rate, which yesterday replaced Bank rate, begins life at 71/4 per cent. 1979 A. Heertje Basic Econ. vii. 106 The key rate of interest is the minimum lending rate (MLR) which can be set by the Bank of England, acting on government instructions. 1981 Daily Mail 31 July 2/1 Geoffrey Howe..revealed that Minimum Lending Rate would be abolished on August 20. |
| 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 44 But this is the minimum rate. 1866 Leisure Hour 8 Dec. 783/2 All the workmen insist on is a minimum rate of wages. 1909 Act 9 Edw. VII c. 22 §4 Trade Boards shall, subject to the provisions of this section, fix minimum rates of wages for timework for their trades. 1974 Minimum rate [see minimum wage below]. |
| 1885 Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 19 [It] has a minimum value when [etc.]. |
| 1944 B. Russell in P. A. Schilpp Philos. B. Russell 14, I mean by a ‘minimum vocabulary’ one in which no word can be defined in terms of the others. All definitions are theoretically superfluous, and therefore the whole of any science can be expressed by means of a minimum vocabulary for that science. 1947 Mind LVI. 358 Every minimum vocabulary adequate to describing the world of ordinary experience must contain at least one universal-name. |
| 1860 Trades' Societies & Strikes: Rep. Comm. appointed by Nat. Assoc. for Promotion of Social Sci. 299 And so the minimum wage which the Institute stipulates for..is constantly reduced. 1908 New Age 18 July 223/2 A serious objection to the fixing of a minimum wage in England for employed is that it would be most difficult to make provision for the large number of incompetent, inferior, and slow workers. 1940 Economist 6 July 4/2 The establishment, by law or by bargaining, of a decent minimum wage in all trades is an indispensable foundation. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VI. 916/1 Minimum-wage legislation or machinery for fixing minimum rates now exists in most of the nations of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, as well as in more industrialized countries. |
c. In combs. used
attrib., as
minimum-cost, involving the smallest possible cost;
minimum-iron, of a garment: requiring only a small amount of ironing;
minimum-security, of a prison: having a minimum amount of restrictions on prisoners.
| 1962 A. Battersby Guide to Stock Control vi. 52 The best period may be found by a minimum-cost procedure.., that is, by minimizing the total costs of ordering and stockholding. |
| 1959 Harrods News Summer 11 Little girl's sundress of minimum-iron cotton. 1963 A. J. Hall Textile Sci. v. 267 Very large amounts of cotton and viscose rayon materials are finished with what is now known as..‘minimum-iron’ finishes. 1965 G. Jackson Let. 18 Apr. in Soledad Brother (1971) 73, I can also obtain a parole faster there or a transfer to some minimum security camp. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 1/6 A 26-year old escaper from the William Head minimum security prison near Victoria. |