| 释义 |
minimus, n. and a.|ˈmɪnɪməs|
Pl. minimi |ˈmɪnɪmaɪ|.
[a. L. minimus: see minim.]
A. n.
1. A creature of the smallest size; a small or insignificant creature.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 329 Get you gone you dwarfe, You minimus. 1879G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie I. xx. 273 An evil cloud of anger at the presumption of the unknown minimus [sc. ‘a tiny ragged urchin’] began to gather. Ibid. III. v. 83 Mr. Sclater beheld only the minimus which the reversed telescope of his own enlarged importance..made of him.
2. ‘The fifth or smallest digit of the hand or foot’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1890).
1881Mivart Cat iv. 99 The fifth [toe, or digit, of the forepaw] is the minimus, or little digit.
3. Numism. (See quot.)
1852T. Wright Celt, Roman, & Saxon xiv. 430 On many Roman sites..are found very small coins in brass... These coins from their diminutive size, are termed by numismatists minimi, and are supposed to have been struck during the period between the abandonment of the island by the imperial government and the establishment of the Saxon kingdoms.
4. Path. Short for lupus minimus, the least virulent form of lupus. In quot. attrib.
1889J. M. Duncan Dis. Women xxv. 205 But there are other cases where, without inflammation, and generally in minimus cases, the sensitiveness is extreme.
B. adj. In some schools, appended to a surname to designate the youngest (in age or standing) of three or four boys having the same surname. Abbreviated min. or mini. (Cf. minor A. 7 b.)
1791in Eton School Lists (1863), Langford mi... Langford min. 1808List of Eton Coll., Cookson mi. Cookson mini. 1852Rowcroft Conf. Etonian I. 72 The boys at Eton are not known by their Christian names, and when there are more than one bearing the same surname,..the individuals are distinguished by the addition of maximus, major, minor, and minimus. 1891W. Blew Vyner's Not. Venat. (1892) Pref. 8 Musters minimus. 1899E. Phillpotts Human Boy 101 Corkey minimus. |