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The least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible, in a given case; hence, a thing of small consequence; -- opposed to Ant: maximum.

, a thermometer for recording the lowest temperature since its last adjustment.

urve referred to polar coördinates, any point for which the radius vector is a maximum or minimum.

to the common or sweet basil (Ocymum basilicum), and the bush basil, or lesser basil (O. minimum), the leaves of which are used in cookery. The name is also given to several kinds of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum). Basil thyme, a name given to the fragrant herbs Calamintha Acinos and C. Nepeta. -- Wild basil, a plant (…

litting readily in one or more definite directions, in which the cohesive attraction is a minimum, affording more or less smooth surfaces; the direction of the dividing plane; a fragment obtained by cleaving, as of a diamond. See Parting.

tle; unnecessary or annoying ado about trifles. Byron. Zealously, assiduously, and with a minimum of fuss or noise Carlyle.

osculating plane of the curve at every point shall contain the normal to the surface; the minimum line that can be drawn on any surface between any two points.

st increases and then begins to decrease; the highest point or degree; -- opposed to Ant: minimum. Good legislation is the art of conducting a nation to the maximum of happiness, and the minimum of misery. P. Colquhoun. Maximum thermometer, a thermometer that registers the highest degree of temperature attained in a gi…

Of, pertaining to, or having a character of, a minim or minimum; least; smallest; as, a minimal amount or value.

To reduce to the smallest part or proportion possible; to reduce to a minimum. Bentham.

Minimum. [Obs.] Burton.

are required (U. S. Rev. Stat. sec. 5191) to keep a larger reserve (25 per cent) than the minimum (15 per cent) required of all other banks. The banks in certain of the reserve cities (specifically called central reserve cities) are required to keep their reserve on hand in cash; banks in other reserve cities may keep…

A wage paid by the day, or some fixed period, on condition that a minimum task be performed. When the workman is paid in proportion for excess over the minimum, the wage is one for piece-work.

A self-registering thermometer, especially one that registers the maximum and minimum during long periods. Nichol.

ntary movement, with abolition of all evidences of mental activity and the reduction to a minimum of all the vital functions so that the patient lies still and apparently unconscious of surrounding objects, while the pulsation of the heart and the breathing, although still present, are almost or altogether imperceptibl…

; -- used chiefly or only in the phrase upset price; that is, the price fixed upon as the minimum for property offered in a public sale, or, in an auction, the price at which property is set up or started by the auctioneer, and the lowest price at which it will be sold. After a solemn pause, Mr. Glossin offered the ups…

n markedly. In tabular form are shown changes of pressure and of temperature, maximum and minimum temperatures, and total rain for each weather station since the last issue, usually 12 hours.

aken; of the third order when simpler work is done, as to record rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures.