lesser, a. and adv.
(ˈlɛsə(r))
[A double comparative, f. less a. + -er3.]
A. adj.
1. a. = less a. Chiefly, and now only, used attrib.
| 1459 Inv. in Paston Lett. I. 478 Item, ij. pillowes of lynen clothe of a lasser assyse. Ibid. 487 Item, ij. aundyrys, grete, of one sorte. Item, ij., lasse, of anothyr sorte. Item, iij. lesser aundiris. 1552 Huloet, Beate..a thynge, wherby to make it lesser or thynner. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 29 To offer Sacrifices to spirites, lesser Gods or dead men of honor. 1611 Bible Gen. i. 16 The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 171 Setting the lesser Lords at variance with their Prince. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. iv. xxiv, These lesser and if I may say more domestick virtues. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 83 The less the height of their descent, the lesser is the resistance they meet with in the air. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 151 Woman is the lesser man. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. x. 145 The lesser minds gave way to the greater. 1896 Howells Impressions & Exp. 259 The lights of lesser craft dipped by, and came and went in the distance. |
| ellipt. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xx. 135 Thre other gonnes wherof one grete and two lesser. 1594 Barnfield Aff. Sheph. ii. lv, For lesser cease, when greater griefes begin. 1660 Barrow Euclid i. iii, To take away the right line BE equal to the lesser A. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xiv, The parting with a great Fortune, as freely as with a lesser. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 61 It must be either for a larger portion, or for a lesser. 1842 James M. Ernstein I. x. 185 When the lesser of the two scoundrels comes to me. |
† b. Followed by
than.
Obs.| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 115 This is in nothing lesser then that. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 40 We judged it [Amsterdam] to be..lesser than one half of London. 1692 S. Patrick Answ. Touchstone 71 In these, none was greater or lesser than another. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 62 The work and duty of the Christian Priesthood is lesser than was that of the Levitical. |
2. In special or technical use, opposed to
greater.
a. Astron. in the names of certain constellations, as
the Lesser Bear.
† Also
lesser circle, a ‘small circle’ of a sphere (
obs.). Also
Geog. in
Lesser Asia (now
arch.), Asia Minor.
b. Mus. Applied to intervals which are now usually called
minor.
c. in the names of plants and animals.
d. Anat. e. For
lesser excommunication,
line,
litany, see the
ns.| a. 1551, 1727–51 [see greater a. 4 a]. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 39 The iiij. lesser Circles, which are the tropicke of Cancer, the tropick of Capricorne, the circle Articke, and the circle Antarticke. 1594 [see circle n. 2 a]. 1613 J. Dennys Secr. Angling iii. xxi, When cold Boreas..Lookes out from vnderneath the lesser beare. 1676 Moxon Tutor Astron. (ed. 3) 221 Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog. 1768 Hume National Char., Essays xx, Throughout..Greece, the Lesser Asia, Sicily [etc.]. |
| b. 1674, 1727–51 [see greater a. 4 b]. 1818 Busby Gram. Mus. 323 Lesser Sixth, with Lesser Third. 1855 Browning Toccata of Galuppi's vii, Those lesser thirds so plaintive, sixths diminished, sigh on sigh. 1873 Bridges Shorter P. i. xiv, But let the viol lead the melody, With lesser intervals, and plaintive moan Of sinking semitone. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Lesser, minor, as: with the lesser third, in the minor key; lesser sixth, a minor sixth. |
| c. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 144 The lesser Reed-Sparrow. 1822 Couch in Linnæan Trans. XIV. 75 Lesser forked Hake. 1837 Macgillivray Withering's Brit. Plants (ed. 4) 341 Lesser Cat's-tail or Reed-mace. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 190 Common Frog-bit... This plant was called by the old writers Lesser Water Lily. |
| d. 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. (ed. 2) 419 The lesser internal cutaneous nerve or nerve of Wrisberg. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 180 The lesser ischiatic notch. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
lesser-angled,
lesser-sized adjs.;
lesser breed, applied allusively after Kipling (
Recessional: see
quot. 1897) to persons of inferior status;
lesser light, applied allusively (after
Gen. i. 16 ‘the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night’) to a person of less eminence or importance.
| 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 4 A longer-focussed and lesser-angled lens. |
| 1897 Kipling Recessional in Times 17 July 13/6 Such boasting as the Gentiles use Or lesser breeds without the Law. 1955 C. Pearl Girl with Swansdown Seat iv. 135 Wilfrid Scawen Blunt..was an English gentleman who shamed his class by championing the lesser breeds in Egypt and India. 1963 Brown & Foote Early Eng. & Norse Studies 39 The next stanza, which begins with the hope that the text will not be miswritten nor mismetred by scribes and lesser breeds without the law of final -e. 1971 A. Price Alamut Ambush ix. 113 The authentic supercilious voice of England—the lesser breeds shall not show unfitting qualities of sportmanship towards each other! 1973 ‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder vii. 82 You and your kind think you can order the lesser breeds around. |
| 1608 Shakes. Per. ii. iii. 41 None that beheld him, but like lesser lights, Did vaile their Crownes to his supremacie. 1873 R. Browning Red Cott. Nt.-Cap i. 34 Pilgrimage, Concourse, procession with, to head the host, Cardinal Mirecourt, quenching lesser lights. 1893 G. Moore Mod. Painting 45 In the seventeenth century were Poussin and Claude; in the eighteenth Watteau, Boucher, Chardin, and many lesser lights. 1906 Galsworthy Man of Property iii. v. 328 His interest was soon diverted from these lesser lights of justice by the entrance of Waterbuck, Q.C. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger xiii. 152 One of the lesser lights of the announcers' staff had his face slapped by a young lady. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 22 At all events the most senior Ministers..turned up on Saturday 27 April, and the lesser lights on the Sunday morning. 1974 Times 21 Jan. 14/7 His deepest affection was reserved for the Romantics—Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and the lesser lights. |
| 1713 G. C. Pref. H. More's Div. Dial. vi, The lesser-sized Bodies. |
† B. adv. Less. In
quot. 1625
= to less purpose.
Obs.| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. iv. 54, I thinke there's neuer a man in Christendome Can lesser hide his loue, or hate, then hee. 1611 ― Cymb. v. v. 187 He (true Knight) No lesser of her Honour confident Then I did truly finde her. a 1625 Fletcher Laws Candy ii. i, I was an eare-witness When this young man spoke lesser then he acted, And had the souldiers voice to helpe him out. |