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Fleshy; -- applied to the minute stryctural elements, called sarcous elements, or sarcous disks, of which striated muscular fiber is composed.

A disease of potatoes producing pits in their surface, caused by a minute fungus (Tiburcinia Scabies).

ved in certain minerals, as hypersthene, schiller spar, etc. It is due to the presence of minute inclusions in parallel position, and in sometimes of secondary origin. Schiller spar (Min.), an altered variety of enstatite, exhibiting, in certain positions, a bronzelike luster.

Hence, characterized by excessive subtilty, or needlessly minute subdivisions; pedantic; formal.

Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy. Law (Farmer's Veter. Adviser).

Close examination; minute inspection; critical observation. They that have designed exactness and deep scrutiny have taken some one part of nature. Sir M. Hale. Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view And narrower scrutiny. Milton.

Minute membranous scales on the surface of some leaves, as in the goosefoot. Gray.

The sixtieth part of a minute of time or of a minute of space, that is, the second regular subdivision of the degree; as, sound moves about 1,140 English feet in a second; five minutes and ten seconds north of this place.

Finely serrate; having very minute teeth.

The state of being notched minutely, like a fine saw. Wright.

To congeal; to concrete; to solidify. That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set. Boyle.

A minute difference or variation, as of thought, belief, expression, etc.; also, the quality or degree of anything which is distinguished from others similar by slight differences; as, the shades of meaning in synonyms. New shades and combinations of thought. De Quincey. Every shade of religious and political opinion h…

, a road of which the surface or bed is made of shells, as oyster shells. -- Shell sand, minute fragments of shells constituting a considerable part of the seabeach in some places.

resolution; hesitation; also, occupation with trifles. She lost not one of her forty-five minutes in picking and choosing, - - no shilly-shally in Kate. De Quincey.

To examine critically or minutely; to scrutinize. Sifting the very utmost sentence and syllable. Hooker. Opportunity I here have had To try thee, sift thee. Milton. Let him but narrowly sift his ideas. I. Taylor. To sift out, to search out with care, as if by sifting.

ariety of gneiss in which the scales of mica or crystals of hornblende, which are usually minute, form thin laminæ, rendering the rock easily cleavable.

In a small quantity or degree; with minuteness. [R.] Ascham.

To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse. That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set, as the tradesmen speak. Boyle. An honest man, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. Shak. During the century and a half which followed the Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English history. Macau…

A written statement containing a minute description or enumeration of particulars, as of charges against a public officer, the terms of a contract, the description of an invention, as in a patent; also, a single article, item, or particular, an allegation of a specific act, as in a charge of official misconduct.…

An arsenide of platinum occuring in grains and minute isometric crystals of tin-white color. It is found near Sudbury, Ontario Canada, and is the only known compound of platinum occuring in nature.