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▪ I. miniature, n. and a.|ˈmɪnɪətjʊə(r), ˈmɪnɪtjʊə(r)|
Also 7–8 mignature, minature, miniture.
[ad. It. miniatura, a. med.L. miniātūra, f. miniāre to rubricate, illuminate: see miniate v. Cf. F. miniature (1653 in Hatz.-Darm.).
The small size characteristic of paintings in miniature has led to a pseudo-etymological association of the word with the L. min- expressing smallness (in minor less, minimus least, minuĕre to diminish), which has prob. affected the development of the transferred and figurative senses.]
A. n.
†1. The action or process of rubricating letters or of illuminating a manuscript. Obs.
1645Evelyn Diary 18–23 Jan., MSS. of remarkable miniature. 1686[G. Hickes] Spec. B. Virginis 9 If the names of other Saints are distinguished with Miniature, Her's ought to Shine with Gold.
2. concr. A picture in an illuminated manuscript, an illumination; also, illuminated work in general.
1680Evelyn Diary 2 Sept., [There] were 3 or 4 Romish breviaries, with a great deal of miniature and monkish painting and gilding... There is also the processe of the philosophers great elixer, represented in divers pieces of excellent miniature. 1803Astle Orig. Writing viii. 195 Miniatures preserved in some of the finest and best executed manuscripts in Europe. 1895E. M. Thompson Eng. Illum. MSS. 36 It is a very beautiful manuscript, written on fine vellum.., and decorated with miniatures.
3. The designation of the branch of pictorial art developed from the art of the mediæval illuminator; the painting of ‘miniatures’ (in sense 4 below). Chiefly in phrase in miniature.
1656Blount Glossogr., Miniature,..the art of drawing pictures in little, being commonly done with red lead. 1669A. Browne Ars Pictoria 77 The Art of Miniture or Limning. 1679E. Everard Popish Plot 3 She further produced a picture in mignature of the said Chancellor. 1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 14 A sort of Pink for Painting in Oil and Miniature. 1759Johnson Idler No. 64 ⁋4, I..heard every day of a wonderful performer in crayons and miniature, and sent my pictures [sc. portraits] to be copied. 1771H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. IV. 90 Painters in Enamel and Miniature. 1821Craig Lect. Drawing vi. 345 The practice of portrait painting in miniature. 1887Propert Miniature Art Pref. 5 Materials..illustrative of the history of miniature.
4. concr. A portrait ‘in miniature’; a portrait painted on a small scale and with minute finish, usually on ivory or vellum; formerly always in water colour, but now often in oil.
1716Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. 10 Oct. (1887) I. 129 There are a vast quantity of paintings, among which are many fine miniatures. 1765H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. I. 73 His [Holbein's] miniatures have all the strength of oil-colours joined to the most finished delicacy. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 743 Miniatures are painted with extreme precision and brilliancy... They may be executed either with oil or water-colours. 1854Thackeray Newcomes I. 53 A feeble miniature of the lady with yellow ringlets.
5. transf. and fig. A reduced image; a representation on a small scale. Also occas. a minutely finished production.
a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 150 As the Ladies plaid them in the water,..the water (making lines in his face) seemed..with twentie bubbles, not to be content to haue the picture of their face in large vpon him, but he would in ech of those bubbles set forth the miniature of them. a1680Rochester Let. fr. Artemiza in Town, Kiss me, thou curious Minature of Man [sc. a Monkey]. 1697Dryden æneis Ded., Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 157 Tragedy is the miniature of human life; an epic poem is the draught at length. a1711Ken Preparatives Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 35 The great Creator's Power and Wisdom shine, Concenter'd in this Miniature Divine [sc. a fly]. 1827De Quincey Murder Wks. 1862 IV. 9 As to Shakspere..witness his incomparable miniature in Henry VI of the murdered Gloucester. 1842Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 12 A miniature of loveliness, all grace Summ'd up and closed in little. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Land Wks. (Bohn) II. 18 In variety of surface, Britain is a miniature of Europe.
b. in miniature: on a small scale; in a brief or abridged form.
1700Southerne Fate of Capua iv. iv, How have I hung upon the little lines Of that dear face,..To find the mother there in minature. 1704Swift T. Tub Wks. 1768 I. 32 Their persons I shall describe particularly and at length; their genius and understandings in mignature. 1813T. Busby Lucretius I. ii. Comm. 34 That which is correct in miniature will be true in the large. 1860Maury Phys. Geol. Sea (Low) xvi. 698 Land and sea breezes are monsoons in miniature. 1872Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxv. 4 This verse is a body of divinity in miniature.
c. Minuteness of workmanship. rare—1.
c1790J. Imison Sch. Art I. 243 The human mind is infinitely insufficient to explore the amazing and inconceiveable gradations of miniature in every part of nature.
d. Chess [tr. G. miniatur]. A problem involving few men, spec. one in which not more than seven pieces are used; a game of relatively few moves.
1903Brit. Chess Mag. 91 It shows the composer's various styles better to give No. 76, which is a four-move ‘miniature’. 1907S. S. Blackburne Terms & Themes Chess Probl. 29 Very light-weight problems are known as ‘miniatures’. 1970A. Sunnucks Encycl. Chess 309 There is no fixed number of moves which determine whether a game can be classified as a miniature, but the term is generally used to describe a game of under 20 moves.
e. Something that is much smaller than the size normal for things of its class; spec. (a) a very small bottle of spirits; (b) a miniature camera.
1939Sun (Baltimore) 26 June 18/2 The sale of so-called ‘miniatures’ in Baltimore is fostering juvenile drinking. 1954A. Lee Round Many a Bend vii. 68 Sunday was also the day on which we sold most ‘miniatures’. (footnote) This is the name for the small bottles of spirits in the trade. 1955[see definition 5 c]. 1958Spectator 1 Aug. 167/3 The miniatures are obviously going to be the fashionable gimmick. The Pye pocket portable measures only 4 × 7 × 1½ inches. 1962‘H. Howard’ Double Finesse vi. 67 Didn't I see you knock back a miniature of whisky? 1971C. Bonington Annapurna South Face x. 123 We had plenty of whisky—over four hundred miniatures and seventy-two full bottles.
f. A short piece of music.
1958Listener 18 Dec. 1051/1 This has no connexion whatsoever with the writing of miniatures or the use of short lyric forms. 1962Ibid. 15 Mar. 489/2 Schumann was a master of epigram, and the epigrammatic Einfall was most eminently suited to his vocal and instrumental miniatures.
¶6. A lineament.
1629Massinger Picture iv. i, There are lines Of a darke colour, that disperse themselues Ore euery miniature of her face. 1636― Gt. Dk. Flor. v. ii, There's no miniature In her faire face, but is a copious theme Which would..make a volume. What cleare arch'd browes? what sparkling eyes?
7. attrib. and Comb., as miniature art, miniature colour, miniature drawing, miniature-kind, miniature painter, miniature painting, miniature-picture, miniature portrait; miniature-initial, an ornamental initial having a miniature picture painted within it.
1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 143 note, When a Piece is of the Miniature-kind; when it runs into the Detail, and nice Delineation of every little particular. 1733School of Miniature 15 Miniature Colours. Ibid. 17, I advise all Miniature Painters to practise it. 1765T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. s.v. Marbling, The consistence of the solution should be nearly that of strong gum-water, used in miniature painting. 1781(title) Miniature Pictures. Written Originally by Mr. Gray... Newly adapted to The most Fashionable and Public Characters. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 146 Miniature-painting. 1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) III. 85 A very small miniature portrait of a gentleman. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 439/2 With regard to miniature art in Germany..little can be said. 1895E. M. Thompson Eng. Illum. MSS. 43 The first fifty-six leaves are occupied by a series of most exquisite miniature drawings. Ibid. 60 The..ornamental-initial (to be distinguished from the miniature-initial).
B. adj.
a. Represented or designed on a small scale; much smaller than the normal size; tiny; spec. of a camera (see quot. 1943); hence applied to photography, films, etc., involving the use of such a camera.
1714Gay Fan i. 170 Here shall the Pencil bid its Colours flow, And make a Miniature Creation grow. 1740Cheyne Regimen 180 He might, no doubt, have foreknown every thing..by the self-motive Powers of his created miniature Judges. 1816Accum Chem. Tests (1818) 321 Very little can be determined in these miniature assays. 1822–56De Quincey Confess. (1862) 122, I..took a very miniature suite of rooms. 1869S. R. Hole Bk. about Roses x. 151 The Miniature or Pompon Provence,..the ‘baby Roses’ and the ‘pony Roses’ of our childhood. 1872Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 150 This stream contains many lovely miniature cascades. 1887(title) Payne's Miniature Scores. No. 1. Mozart Quartet in G major. 1893G. B. Shaw Widowers' Houses iii. 73 With photographic portrait of Blanche on miniature easel on the top. 1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Apr. 1/5 The Department of militia has issued notice of a competition at local miniature ranges to be fired between the 11th and 19th of April. 1913A. G. Fulton Notes on Rifle Shooting 7 Miniature shooting teaches almost all that is necessary to make a man a good shot with the Service rifle. 1914Physical Rev. Apr. 255 From them a miniature universe could be constructed exactly similar in every respect to the present universe. 1917Autocar Handbk. (ed. 7) i. 13 (heading) The miniature car. 1921Sci. Amer. 25 June 514/2 (caption) Miniature camera with magazine mounted for use..and the miniature projector. 1941J. du Mont (title) 200 miniature games of chess. 1943C. Duncan Man. Miniature Camera (ed. 2) iii. 12 When the Royal Photographic Society found it necessary to define the term ‘miniature camera’ they ruled that it was one designed to make negatives ‘not larger than six square inches’. 1943Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) 144 Miniature film radiography. 1953J. du Mont (title) Chess: more miniature games. 1956A. L. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 18) 466 The Leica, though by no means the first camera to make small pictures, was undoubtedly the camera which popularised miniature photography. 1958Spectator 1 Aug. 167/2 The new miniature transistor radios. 1959Chambers's Encycl. VII. 246/1 Increased use of mass miniature radiography is resulting in many suspicious cases being discovered which cannot be definitely diagnosed. Ibid. XIV. 778/2 The technical quality of the present-day miniature film approximates closely to that of full-sized film. 1970Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXIII. 4 The more sophisticated paradigms simulating the therapy-interview situation..and miniature systems of conditioning in the mass.
b. Applied to a dog of a breed or variety smaller than average; also as n.
1902Daily Tel. 13 Feb. 6/4 [Cruft's Dog Show at Royal Agricultural Hall]. In one of the annexes of the hall are shown the Griffons, the Maltese and other miniatures. 1903R. B. Lee Hist. & Descr. Mod. Dogs Gt. Brit. & Ireland: Terriers (ed. 3) xv. 401 Little dogs of these colours and toy white English terriers will not have any kind of classification, unless special arrangements are made for grouping them as a section of their own, called ‘smooth-coated terriers (miniature) other than black and tan’. 1904H. Compton 20th Cent. Dog I. 301 The miniature black and tan terrier—to give it its new Kennel Club title—is more familiarly known..by its original one of the ‘Toy Terrier’. 1912Encycl. Brit. VII. 375/2 Non-Sporting [Dogs].—Bulldog, bulldog (miniature)..black and tan terrier (miniature). 1924[see bench v. 3 c]. 1945C. L. B. Hubbard Observer's Bk. Dogs 53 A miniature Dachshund should be a sturdy little sportsman. 1948― Dogs in Brit. iii. xx. 319 The Miniature Poodles in Britain are mostly descended from imported French dogs although many are ‘bred down’ from small standard Poodles. 1959Observer 1 Feb. 12 The breed standard describes miniature poodles as active and intelligent... Height at shoulder should be under 15 in.
c. Applied to a version of golf played on a miniature course.
1915F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier i. i. 10 Sitting together..in front of the club house, let us say, at Homburg..watching the miniature golf. 1930Glasgow Herald 25 Sept. 17/5 Miniature Golf Course in Glasgow. What is claimed to be a real golf course in miniature is being laid out. 1930Daily Express 6 Oct. 8/3 The Government's experts have been investigating the subject because of the demand the miniature golf establishments are creating for materials. 1966J. Ball Cool Cottontail (1967) xi. 118 He and his date played miniature golf, had dinner, and saw a movie.
▪ II. miniature, v.|ˈmɪnɪətjʊə(r), ˈmɪnɪtjʊə(r)|
[f. miniature n.]
1. trans. To embellish (a manuscript) with miniatures.
1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. 85 A MS...in Golden Letters upon Vellum miniatur'd.
2. To represent or describe in miniature.
a1706Evelyn Diary an. 1686 (1955) IV. 531 His booke of Birds, Fish: flowers, shells &c drawn & miniatured to the life. 1833New Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 402 Take this round orb; it miniatures the world. 1865S. Lanier Poems (1884) 231 Still shine the words that miniature his deeds. 1895H. Callan From Clyde to Jordan xxix. 302 Is not the whole Anglo-Egyptian situation miniatured in this incident?
3. To reduce to miniature dimensions. Hence miniaturing vbl. n. (in quot. attrib.).
1881Nature No. 622. 514 Three sets of achromatic lenses forming a focal power of forty at ten inches, or a miniaturing power of one fortieth. |