minusprep.n.adv.adj.

Brit.

/ˈmʌɪnəs/, U.S.

/ˈmaɪnəs/

Inflections: Plural minuses; rare minusses.

Forms: late Middle English mynus, 1500s– minus, 1800s minuss.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin minus, minor.

Etymology: Ultimately < classical Latin minus, adjective, neuter singular of minor less (see minor adj.). Compare earlier less adj. 1g. Compare also French moins (14th cent.; 12th cent. in Old French in forms mains , meins ), Italian meno (14th cent.: see note below; compare also meno adv.), German minus (14th cent.: see note below).The prepositional use (sense A. 1), from which all the other English uses have been developed, did not exist in Latin of any period. It probably originated in the commercial language of the Middle Ages. In Germany, and perhaps in other countries, the words plus and minus were used by merchants to mark an excess or deficiency in weight or measure, the amount of which was appended in figures. The earliest known examples of the modern sense of minus are German and date from the late 14th cent. (see Schirmer Wörterbuch der deutschen Kaufmannssprache 1911, s.v.). In J. Widmann's book on commercial arithmetic ( Behende vnd Hubsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft, 1489) the signs (−) and (+) occur for the first time in print, and are directed to be read as minus and mer respectively; in a German manuscript of a few years earlier the former sign is called minnes . In the Bamberger Rechenbuch (1483) the tare to be deducted from the weight of a package is called das Minus . See F. Cajori, Hist. Math. Notations (1928) I. iii. 229–50. In a somewhat different sense, plus and minus had been employed in 1202 by Leonardo Pisano (also known as Leonardo Fibonacci) for the excess and deficiency in the results of the two suppositions in the Rule of Double Position (see position n. 2); and an Italian writer of the 14th cent. used meno to indicate the subtraction of a number to which it was prefixed. For the passages referred to see Cantor, Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik (ed. 2, 1899) II. The origin of the symbol (−), read as minus , is disputed; some have conjectured that it arose as a merchants' mark, while others believe it to descend from the obelus (see obelus n.) used by ancient critics to indicate that a passage should be removed from the text.

A. prep.

a. Placed between two expressions of number or quantity: made less or reduced by; with the subtraction of (the second number or quantity from the first).Now conventionally rendered by the mathematical symbol ‘−’.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > mathematical symbol [preposition] > indicating subtraction

minus1483

the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [adjective] > of subtraction > denoting subtraction

lessc1330

minus1483

1483 in J. P. Collier Househ. Bks. John Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Earl of Surrey (1844) 417 v. yardys, mynus the nayle, welwet blake.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Character Thus, 14−2, is read, 14 minus, or abating, 2.

1811 E. H. East Rep. Cases King's Bench 13 214 There was not 100l. due..but only that sum minus the rebate of interest for the times which the bills had then to run.

1876 E. Brooks Philos. Arith. 347 The sum of the terms of an infinite series descending equals the first term divided by 1 minus the rate.

1900 Living Age 17 Feb. 423/2 For a hundred of these sticks..they received one lira, minus the cost of cartage.

1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xxxvi. 865 The area is proportional to the defect, that is, two right angles minus the sum of the angles.

1993 Newsweek 6 Sept. 57/3 Pick a percentage of your money to keep in stocks and stick to it. A popular rule is 100 minus your age.

b. gen. With the deduction or exclusion of (a specified portion or constituent element of the whole); excepting, other than.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > place > absence > with absence of (a thing) [preposition]

withoutc1175

sansc1300

forouta1375

minus1808

the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > with the deduction of [preposition]

less1623

minus1808

1808 J. W. Croker Sketch State Irel. (ed. 2) 42 Competitors offer the whole value of the produce minus that daily potatoe.

1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. v. 123 It might be supposed..that acetic acid is alcohol minus carbon.

1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. ii. 962/2 An imperfect cranium, composed principally of the cranial, minus the facial, bones.

1898 J. Caird Univ. Addr. 16 The least and lowest fact of outward observation is not a bare fact, an independent entity, fact minus mind.

1912 F. A. A. Talbot Making of Great Canad. Railway 180 The train rocked and rolled like a vessel minus its bilge keels.

1946 Happy Landings (Air Ministry) July 5/1 The aircraft..was seen..minus the port outer mainplane and engine.

1989 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman 29 Apr. c40/3 (advt.) House is in excellent condition minus decorating update of interior.

1997 Times 5 Mar. 22/5 Jacob's Bakery unveils a new campaign for Club biscuits minus its familiar signature tune.

2. Chiefly colloquial. In predicative use: deprived of, short of, without (something).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > non-possession > [adjective] > devoid of something > lacking or without

wane971

quit?c1225

helpless1362

desolatec1386

wantsomea1400

ungirtc1412

voidc1420

wantinga1475

destitutea1500

unfurnished1541

defect1543

bankrupt1567

frustrate1576

wanting1580

wanting1592

sterile1642

minus1807

lacking1838

to be stuck up for1860

short1873

wanting1874

quits1885

light1936

1807 T. Morton Town & Country v. i. 80 Idiot! fool! to kick down every thing by backing out one infernal hand, and leave myself minus—I dare not think how much.

1839 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Aug. 158 My gun was found to be minus bayonet and ramrod.

1861 C. S. Calverley Lines 14th Feb. ii. 10 Yea! by St. Valentinus, Emma shall not be minus What all young ladies..Expect to-day.

1903 Rev. of Reviews Apr. 385/2 The Englishman got back to civilization minus his left arm.

1968 S. L. Elliott Rusty Bugles in E. Hanger Three Austral. Plays ii. iii. 86 Rod comes in minus his shirt, carrying washing.

1992 DJ Nov. 39/1 12-inched here sadly minus her superb pure gospel Original 7″.

B. n.

1. The mathematical symbol ‘−’; a minus sign (see Compounds 1).In quot. 1654 figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > mathematical symbol [preposition] > indicating minus quantity

minus1579

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > signed (positive or negative)

minus1579

plus1579

nome1665

negative1706

positive definiteness1941

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > [noun] > arithmetic or algebraic symbols > subtraction

minus1579

1579 L. Digges & T. Digges Stratioticos ii. iv. 38 The same or like Signes multiplied produce + Plus. Contrarie or diuerse Signes produce alway − Minus.

1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 385 For the Algebra (as I may tearm it) or Nature of Reprehension, giveth the Plus to the Reprover, and the Minus to the Reproved.

1668 tr. J. H. Rahn Introd. Algebra 4 The Sign for Subtraction is − i.e. Minus, or the Negative Sign.

1685 J. Wallis Treat. Algebra xvi. 69 The Signs + and − (or Plus and Minus) the former of which is a Note of Position, Affirmation or Addition; the other of Defect, Negation, or Subduction.

1836 E. Howard Rattlin xxvi A slatefull of plusses, minusses, x, y, z's.

1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 664/2 Those who passed had their case sheet marked with a minus, those who had been ‘negatively selected’ with a little blue cross.

1992 Cambr. Encycl. Human Evol. (1994) vii. v. 283/1 If the DNA was cut..the site is marked with a plus; if not, with a minus.

2. An operation of subtraction; a loss. Also: a negative quantity; (figurative) a deficiency, a disadvantage. Opposed to plus.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > [noun] > a negative or positive quantity

positive1704

minusa1721

plus1794

the mind > possession > loss > [noun] > a loss

lossc1369

minusa1721

the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > [noun] > that which is deducted

deduction1546

discount1622

defease1630

bate1800

subtractive1817

minus1876

offtake1892

a1721 M. Prior Turtle & Sparrow (1723) 329 Now weigh the pleasure with the pain, The plus and minus, loss and gain.

1791 H. Walpole Let. 26 July (1905) XV. 25 The villain Paine..is engaged in a controversy with the Abbé Sieyès, about the plus or minus of the rebellion.

1872 Littell's Living Age 4 May 265/2 An incorrect perception of pigments..in painting makes itself felt by a constantly recurring plus or minus of a single colour in the whole picture.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda III. vi. xlviii. 363 That new gambling in which the losing was not simply a minus but a terrible plus that had never entered into her reckoning.

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience 166 Peace cannot be reached by the simple addition of pluses and elimination of minuses from life.

1969 Listener 17 July 67/3 These pluses fight against a tide of minuses.

1989 New Scientist 25 Mar. 64/3 There is another geological ‘minus’ to add to the planning balance sheet, and once again the problem is water.

C. adv.

With a negative electric charge. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric polarization > [adverb] > negatively electrified

minus1747

1747 B. Franklin Let. 1 Sept. in Exper. & Observ. Electr. (1751) 15 B is electrised plus; A, minus. And we daily in our experiments electrise bodies plus or minus, as we think proper.

1770 J. Ferguson Introd. Electr. 5 When any body has more than its natural quantity of this fire or fluid, it is said to be electrified positively, or plus; and when it has less than its natural quantity, it is said to be electrified negatively, or minus.

1911 Encycl. Brit. IX. 181/1 The outer coating of tinfoil having had its ordinary quantity of electricity removed, was electrified negatively, or minus.

D. adj.

a. Of the nature of a negative quantity, reduction, or deficit. Cf. minus quantity n. at Compounds 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adjective] > negative

wickeda1300

privativea1398

negative1565

sorrow1568

privant1629

minus1776

impositivec1856

1776 G. Coleman Spleen i. 5 Fourscore minus, I promise you. My quarter's allowance..(thirty guineas!) gone.

1795 R. Cumberland Wheel of Fortune Epil. He threw, and won five thousand in a trice..he threw again, Kick'd down the five, and cut with minus ten.

1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Proc. Parl. 49/2 There were six millions minus.

a1871 T. Carlyle Reminisc. (1881) II. 144 The villain of a partner eloped, and left him possessor of a minus 12,000l.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 62 Strictly speaking, a penalty is a minus handicap, i.e. the man who is giving the other competitors starts, is placed behind the line from which the distance to be run is reckoned.

1943 Amer. Econ. Rev. 33 343 Net investment fell to a minus figure.

1992 E. Pearce Election Rides xviii. 193 Go on, surprise me... Grimsby a minus swing against Austen Mitchell.

b. That is below zero by (a specified amount), esp. on a temperature scale; on the negative side of an implied baseline by (a specified amount).

ΚΠ

1892 Arch. Ophthalmol. 21 422 A skiascope is now used at the Utrecht Clinique with glasses on each side which by combinations make a series of plus and minus D from 1 to 10.

1899 N. H. Dole in Early Poems R. W. Emerson p. xxxiii Occupying a cabin though in company with governors and legislators, and a cold of minus fifteen.

1920 Whittaker's Electr. Engineer's Pocket-bk. (ed. 4) 290 Resistance pyrometers. For exact readings when temperature is steady... Range: minus 200° up to 1000° C.

1960 F. G. Mann & B. C. Saunders Pract. Org. Chem. (ed. 4) v. 507 The pH of a solution is defined as minus the logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration.

1985 R. Holmes Footsteps iv. vii. 261 It was a snowy night with a temperature of minus eighteen degrees.

1991 Athlon's Eastern Football Ann. 79/1 The Bulldogs' leading ground gainer of the day..ended the game with minus two yards.

2. Specific uses.

a. Having or associated with a negative electric charge. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric polarization > [adjective] > relating to poles > relating to the cathode

minus1789

cathodic1837

cathodal1882

1789 Nicholson in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 79 270 It affords the means of producing either the plus or minus states in one and the same conductor.

1816 S. T. Coleridge Statesman's Man. 54 Apparent contraries, which yet are but the two poles, or Plus and Minus states, of the same influence.

1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci., Chem. 225 Its counterpart of − or minus electricity.

1974 M. Clifford Encycl. Home Wiring & Electr. i. 4 Minus polarity means the minus (also called negative) terminal.

b. Printing and Photography. Of a colour: that is or may be subtracted from white light to obtain another colour. Cf. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > [adjective] > complementary colour

minus1939

1939 J. H. Coote Making Colour Prints 17 The three colours which are used for ‘subtraction’ are described as ‘minus’ colours.

c. Virology and Molecular Biology. Designating or relating to a strand of DNA or RNA having a base sequence that is complementary to that of a strand of messenger RNA (mRNA).

ΚΠ

1969 Virology 39 400/1 Radioactively labeled minus strand RNA of a variety of influenza viruses were hybridized with RNA isolated from different myxoviruses (= plus strands) and vice verse.

1973 R. G. Krueger et al. Introd. Microbiol. xviii. 505/1 The replicase binds to the virus plus-strand and produces a complementary minus-strand.

1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 2665/2 Replication of the viral genome in plus strand (messenger-sense) RNA viruses occurs initially via synthesis of complementary minus strand RNA by the viral replicase.

1996 Jrnl. Virol. 70 4269 The pregenome is then reverse transcribed into single-stranded minus-polarity DNA, which is subsequently replicated to double-stranded DNA.

†3. colloquial. Being worse off than before; out of pocket. Also: not provided for, lacking (something implied). Also with of. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > loss > [adjective] > suffering loss

minus1814

1814 Ann. Reg. 1813 Chron. 44/1 He was considerably minus at the last Newmarket meeting.

1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto VI xxi. 11 Which leaves you minus of the cash.

a1827 W. Hickey Mem. (1960) xx. 326 Mordaunt's natural vile temper not being at all improved by being three hundred pounds minus by the week's speculation.

1836 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 33 Twelve boatmen..with very small matters of clothes on, but their black skins prevent them from looking so very uncomfortable as Europeans would in the same minus state.

1854 P. Cary Poems & Parodies 163 And he was left there, minus.

1865 Leaves from Diary Celebrated Burglar 158/2 These poor gin-drinking shadows went nearly minus of their eau de vie.

4. colloquial. Non-existent, absent. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1852 C. A. Bristed Five Years Eng. University (ed. 2) 53 His mathematics are decidedly minus, but the use of them is past long ago.

1853 C. Dickens Down with Tide in Househ. Words 5 Feb. 483/2 Being, when called upon to answer for the assault, what Waterloo described as ‘Minus’, or, as I humbly conceived it, not to be found.

1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. xiv. 342 If we ain't minus in less than no time, we're blowed upon.

1930 I. Gershwin Boy! What Love has done to Me in Compl. Lyrics (1993) 168/2 His brains are minus, Never a thought in sight.

5. Used as postmodifier after a letter of the alphabet representing a grade (as assessed by a teacher, etc.): somewhat lower than, beneath (the value assigned to the unmodified letter).

ΚΠ

1898 M. Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) I. 2 The examiners..marked my paper ‘gamma-minus-query’.

1932 A. Huxley Brave New World iv. 75 He..called to a lounging couple of Delta-Minus attendants to come and push his machine out.

1958 Oxf. Mag. 13 Mar. 362/1 I have mentioned twenty recent pictures..four have some alpha about them; the rest are gamma minus to beta plus.

1962 M. Drabble Summer Bird-cage i. 13 I..got on the train, where I read..Tender is the Night (beta minus).

Compounds

C1.

minus point n. a point counting against a person or thing; a negative consideration.

ΚΠ

1942 Sociometry 5 164 One point is assigned for each ‘like’ he receives, a minus point for each ‘dislike’ and an additional point for each time he is ‘chosen’.

1987 Money Paper June 31/2 Whether these reputations—good or bad—are really deserved is immaterial. There is probably a tendency to exaggerate plus and minus points.

minus quantity n. a quantity which is negative or preceded by a minus sign; (chiefly colloquial) something insignificant or negligible; a liability, a disadvantage.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant

thing of noughtc1425

nothing such1579

of nothing1583

nullitya1591

O1608

ciphera1616

zero1650

flinga1661

leather and prunella1734

small change1822

minus quantity1843

nuthin'1843

nothingburger1953

the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > negativity or negation > a negative thing

privant1586

negation1707

minus quantity1843

1843 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) Oct. 541 State bonds and state credit would have but little to do with ‘cash’ and ‘par values’, or with any value above a minus quantity, if such were the condition.

1886 Longman's Mag. 7 551 The Americans can get our books, and do get them, and republish them and give us nothing—that awful minus quantity, nuppence!

1916 R. Fry Let. 14 Aug. (1972) II. 401 I fear my recommendation would generally prove a minus quantity.

1965 F. Sinclair Most Unnatural Murder xv. 174 Cherub and Phyl wouldn't play; Phyl's a bit of a minus quantity, anyway, from that angle.

minus sign n. the mathematical symbol ‘−’.

ΚΠ

1851 Sci. Amer. 6 Sept. 407/1 It is not possible for us to occupy the amount of room necessary to explain the plus and minus signs.

1947 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 2 356 When two pure imaginaries are multiplied together a minus sign will register.

1990 M. Torgov St. Farb's Day i. 105 When I look at my bottom line, I see a big minus sign.

C2. Printing and Photography. Used to denote the colour obtained by subtracting a specified colour from white light, as minus blue, minus red, etc. (i.e. white light from which the blue, red, etc., wavelengths have been removed).

ΚΠ

1901 J. Cadett & E. S. Shepherd Orthochromatic & Three-colour Photogr. 24 [In the Sanger Shepherd process] the prints for the minus green or pink, and minus blue or yellow positives are printed together on a special film.

1936 Discovery Jan. 2/1 It [sc. Monastral Fast Blue BS] is a true ‘minus-red’ pigment for three-colour printing.

1970 D. L. MacAdam Sources of Color Sci. 130 Red, green, and blue, being the colors in positive synthesis, minus red, minus green, and minus blue, or cyan blue, bright crimson and yellow are the printing colors.

1982 Jrnl. Air Pollution Control Assoc. 32 837/1 Twin SLR cameras were used, and the one with CIR film had a Wratten #12 yellow (or minus blue) filter.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	minus
释义	minusv. Brit. /ˈmʌɪnəs/, U.S. /ˈmaɪnəs/ Forms: Past participle 1800s– minused, 1900s– minussed. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: minus n. Etymology: < minus n. rare. †1. transitive. To subject to a loss; to impoverish. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use. ΚΠ 1801 S. T. Coleridge Let. to R. Southey 13 Apr. in C. C. Southey Life & Corr. R. Southey (1850) II. 146 Alas! you will have found the dear old place sadly minused by the removal of Davy. 2. transitive. colloquial. To subtract, remove. Also: to reduce numerically. Also intransitive. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > perform arithmetic or algebraic operations [verb (transitive)] > subtract to do awayOE drawc1392 to take out of ——a1398 to take offa1400 withdrawc1400 subtray?c1425 ydraw?c1425 surtretec1440 to take away?1537 rebate1543 subtract1543 subduct?1556 substra?1558 pull?a1560 subduce?a1560 substract1559 to pull back?1574 difference1658 take1798 minus1963 the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > deduct [verb (transitive)] abatec1400 rebate1425 batec1440 minishc1483 diminish?1504 detract1509 detray1509 deduct1524 defalkc1540 defalcate1541 subtray1549 derogate1561 discount1561 deduce?1566 substract1592 to strike off1597 reduct1600 subtract1610 subduct1716 to knock off1811 dock1891 shave1961 minus1963 1963 Pop. Mech. Jan. 137/1 A computer that bosses the U. S. Army supply office at Orleans, France, forgot its 'rithmetic and minused when it should have plussed. 1966 Triangle (Illinois State Univ.) Sept. 7 Each time he rocked he minused his remaining Seconds by one tick, one tock, one rock. 1984 ‘Tiresias’ Notes from Overground 161 People I know well look straight through me as though I had been minussed. Uncanny feeling of insubstantiality. 1999 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 21 Oct. 14 That is why some of them are forced to cheat. After minusing RM90 they have to take home some money to feed their families. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). minusprep.n.adv.adj. Brit. /ˈmʌɪnəs/, U.S. /ˈmaɪnəs/ Inflections: Plural minuses; rare minusses. Forms: late Middle English mynus, 1500s– minus, 1800s minuss. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin minus, minor. Etymology: Ultimately < classical Latin minus, adjective, neuter singular of minor less (see minor adj.). Compare earlier less adj. 1g. Compare also French moins (14th cent.; 12th cent. in Old French in forms mains , meins ), Italian meno (14th cent.: see note below; compare also meno adv.), German minus (14th cent.: see note below).The prepositional use (sense A. 1), from which all the other English uses have been developed, did not exist in Latin of any period. It probably originated in the commercial language of the Middle Ages. In Germany, and perhaps in other countries, the words plus and minus were used by merchants to mark an excess or deficiency in weight or measure, the amount of which was appended in figures. The earliest known examples of the modern sense of minus are German and date from the late 14th cent. (see Schirmer Wörterbuch der deutschen Kaufmannssprache 1911, s.v.). In J. Widmann's book on commercial arithmetic ( Behende vnd Hubsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft, 1489) the signs (−) and (+) occur for the first time in print, and are directed to be read as minus and mer respectively; in a German manuscript of a few years earlier the former sign is called minnes . In the Bamberger Rechenbuch (1483) the tare to be deducted from the weight of a package is called das Minus . See F. Cajori, Hist. Math. Notations (1928) I. iii. 229–50. In a somewhat different sense, plus and minus had been employed in 1202 by Leonardo Pisano (also known as Leonardo Fibonacci) for the excess and deficiency in the results of the two suppositions in the Rule of Double Position (see position n. 2); and an Italian writer of the 14th cent. used meno to indicate the subtraction of a number to which it was prefixed. For the passages referred to see Cantor, Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik (ed. 2, 1899) II. The origin of the symbol (−), read as minus , is disputed; some have conjectured that it arose as a merchants' mark, while others believe it to descend from the obelus (see obelus n.) used by ancient critics to indicate that a passage should be removed from the text. A. prep. 1. a. Placed between two expressions of number or quantity: made less or reduced by; with the subtraction of (the second number or quantity from the first).Now conventionally rendered by the mathematical symbol ‘−’. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > mathematical symbol [preposition] > indicating subtraction minus1483 the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [adjective] > of subtraction > denoting subtraction lessc1330 minus1483 1483 in J. P. Collier Househ. Bks. John Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Earl of Surrey (1844) 417 v. yardys, mynus the nayle, welwet blake. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Character Thus, 14−2, is read, 14 minus, or abating, 2. 1811 E. H. East Rep. Cases King's Bench 13 214 There was not 100l. due..but only that sum minus the rebate of interest for the times which the bills had then to run. 1876 E. Brooks Philos. Arith. 347 The sum of the terms of an infinite series descending equals the first term divided by 1 minus the rate. 1900 Living Age 17 Feb. 423/2 For a hundred of these sticks..they received one lira, minus the cost of cartage. 1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xxxvi. 865 The area is proportional to the defect, that is, two right angles minus the sum of the angles. 1993 Newsweek 6 Sept. 57/3 Pick a percentage of your money to keep in stocks and stick to it. A popular rule is 100 minus your age. b. gen. With the deduction or exclusion of (a specified portion or constituent element of the whole); excepting, other than. ΘΚΠ the world > space > place > absence > with absence of (a thing) [preposition] withoutc1175 sansc1300 forouta1375 minus1808 the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > with the deduction of [preposition] less1623 minus1808 1808 J. W. Croker Sketch State Irel. (ed. 2) 42 Competitors offer the whole value of the produce minus that daily potatoe. 1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. v. 123 It might be supposed..that acetic acid is alcohol minus carbon. 1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. ii. 962/2 An imperfect cranium, composed principally of the cranial, minus the facial, bones. 1898 J. Caird Univ. Addr. 16 The least and lowest fact of outward observation is not a bare fact, an independent entity, fact minus mind. 1912 F. A. A. Talbot Making of Great Canad. Railway 180 The train rocked and rolled like a vessel minus its bilge keels. 1946 Happy Landings (Air Ministry) July 5/1 The aircraft..was seen..minus the port outer mainplane and engine. 1989 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman 29 Apr. c40/3 (advt.) House is in excellent condition minus decorating update of interior. 1997 Times 5 Mar. 22/5 Jacob's Bakery unveils a new campaign for Club biscuits minus its familiar signature tune. 2. Chiefly colloquial. In predicative use: deprived of, short of, without (something). ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > non-possession > [adjective] > devoid of something > lacking or without wane971 quit?c1225 helpless1362 desolatec1386 wantsomea1400 ungirtc1412 voidc1420 wantinga1475 destitutea1500 unfurnished1541 defect1543 bankrupt1567 frustrate1576 wanting1580 wanting1592 sterile1642 minus1807 lacking1838 to be stuck up for1860 short1873 wanting1874 quits1885 light1936 1807 T. Morton Town & Country v. i. 80 Idiot! fool! to kick down every thing by backing out one infernal hand, and leave myself minus—I dare not think how much. 1839 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Aug. 158 My gun was found to be minus bayonet and ramrod. 1861 C. S. Calverley Lines 14th Feb. ii. 10 Yea! by St. Valentinus, Emma shall not be minus What all young ladies..Expect to-day. 1903 Rev. of Reviews Apr. 385/2 The Englishman got back to civilization minus his left arm. 1968 S. L. Elliott Rusty Bugles in E. Hanger Three Austral. Plays ii. iii. 86 Rod comes in minus his shirt, carrying washing. 1992 DJ Nov. 39/1 12-inched here sadly minus her superb pure gospel Original 7″. B. n. 1. The mathematical symbol ‘−’; a minus sign (see Compounds 1).In quot. 1654 figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > mathematical symbol [preposition] > indicating minus quantity minus1579 the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > signed (positive or negative) minus1579 plus1579 nome1665 negative1706 positive definiteness1941 the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > [noun] > arithmetic or algebraic symbols > subtraction minus1579 1579 L. Digges & T. Digges Stratioticos ii. iv. 38 The same or like Signes multiplied produce + Plus. Contrarie or diuerse Signes produce alway − Minus. 1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 385 For the Algebra (as I may tearm it) or Nature of Reprehension, giveth the Plus to the Reprover, and the Minus to the Reproved. 1668 tr. J. H. Rahn Introd. Algebra 4 The Sign for Subtraction is − i.e. Minus, or the Negative Sign. 1685 J. Wallis Treat. Algebra xvi. 69 The Signs + and − (or Plus and Minus) the former of which is a Note of Position, Affirmation or Addition; the other of Defect, Negation, or Subduction. 1836 E. Howard Rattlin xxvi A slatefull of plusses, minusses, x, y, z's. 1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 664/2 Those who passed had their case sheet marked with a minus, those who had been ‘negatively selected’ with a little blue cross. 1992 Cambr. Encycl. Human Evol. (1994) vii. v. 283/1 If the DNA was cut..the site is marked with a plus; if not, with a minus. 2. An operation of subtraction; a loss. Also: a negative quantity; (figurative) a deficiency, a disadvantage. Opposed to plus. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > [noun] > a negative or positive quantity positive1704 minusa1721 plus1794 the mind > possession > loss > [noun] > a loss lossc1369 minusa1721 the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > [noun] > that which is deducted deduction1546 discount1622 defease1630 bate1800 subtractive1817 minus1876 offtake1892 a1721 M. Prior Turtle & Sparrow (1723) 329 Now weigh the pleasure with the pain, The plus and minus, loss and gain. 1791 H. Walpole Let. 26 July (1905) XV. 25 The villain Paine..is engaged in a controversy with the Abbé Sieyès, about the plus or minus of the rebellion. 1872 Littell's Living Age 4 May 265/2 An incorrect perception of pigments..in painting makes itself felt by a constantly recurring plus or minus of a single colour in the whole picture. 1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda III. vi. xlviii. 363 That new gambling in which the losing was not simply a minus but a terrible plus that had never entered into her reckoning. 1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience 166 Peace cannot be reached by the simple addition of pluses and elimination of minuses from life. 1969 Listener 17 July 67/3 These pluses fight against a tide of minuses. 1989 New Scientist 25 Mar. 64/3 There is another geological ‘minus’ to add to the planning balance sheet, and once again the problem is water. C. adv. With a negative electric charge. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric polarization > [adverb] > negatively electrified minus1747 1747 B. Franklin Let. 1 Sept. in Exper. & Observ. Electr. (1751) 15 B is electrised plus; A, minus. And we daily in our experiments electrise bodies plus or minus, as we think proper. 1770 J. Ferguson Introd. Electr. 5 When any body has more than its natural quantity of this fire or fluid, it is said to be electrified positively, or plus; and when it has less than its natural quantity, it is said to be electrified negatively, or minus. 1911 Encycl. Brit. IX. 181/1 The outer coating of tinfoil having had its ordinary quantity of electricity removed, was electrified negatively, or minus. D. adj. 1. a. Of the nature of a negative quantity, reduction, or deficit. Cf. minus quantity n. at Compounds 1. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adjective] > negative wickeda1300 privativea1398 negative1565 sorrow1568 privant1629 minus1776 impositivec1856 1776 G. Coleman Spleen i. 5 Fourscore minus, I promise you. My quarter's allowance..(thirty guineas!) gone. 1795 R. Cumberland Wheel of Fortune Epil. He threw, and won five thousand in a trice..he threw again, Kick'd down the five, and cut with minus ten. 1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Proc. Parl. 49/2 There were six millions minus. a1871 T. Carlyle Reminisc. (1881) II. 144 The villain of a partner eloped, and left him possessor of a minus 12,000l. 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 62 Strictly speaking, a penalty is a minus handicap, i.e. the man who is giving the other competitors starts, is placed behind the line from which the distance to be run is reckoned. 1943 Amer. Econ. Rev. 33 343 Net investment fell to a minus figure. 1992 E. Pearce Election Rides xviii. 193 Go on, surprise me... Grimsby a minus swing against Austen Mitchell. b. That is below zero by (a specified amount), esp. on a temperature scale; on the negative side of an implied baseline by (a specified amount). ΚΠ 1892 Arch. Ophthalmol. 21 422 A skiascope is now used at the Utrecht Clinique with glasses on each side which by combinations make a series of plus and minus D from 1 to 10. 1899 N. H. Dole in Early Poems R. W. Emerson p. xxxiii Occupying a cabin though in company with governors and legislators, and a cold of minus fifteen. 1920 Whittaker's Electr. Engineer's Pocket-bk. (ed. 4) 290 Resistance pyrometers. For exact readings when temperature is steady... Range: minus 200° up to 1000° C. 1960 F. G. Mann & B. C. Saunders Pract. Org. Chem. (ed. 4) v. 507 The pH of a solution is defined as minus the logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. 1985 R. Holmes Footsteps iv. vii. 261 It was a snowy night with a temperature of minus eighteen degrees. 1991 Athlon's Eastern Football Ann. 79/1 The Bulldogs' leading ground gainer of the day..ended the game with minus two yards. 2. Specific uses. a. Having or associated with a negative electric charge. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric polarization > [adjective] > relating to poles > relating to the cathode minus1789 cathodic1837 cathodal1882 1789 Nicholson in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 79 270 It affords the means of producing either the plus or minus states in one and the same conductor. 1816 S. T. Coleridge Statesman's Man. 54 Apparent contraries, which yet are but the two poles, or Plus and Minus states, of the same influence. 1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci., Chem. 225 Its counterpart of − or minus electricity. 1974 M. Clifford Encycl. Home Wiring & Electr. i. 4 Minus polarity means the minus (also called negative) terminal. b. Printing and Photography. Of a colour: that is or may be subtracted from white light to obtain another colour. Cf. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > [adjective] > complementary colour minus1939 1939 J. H. Coote Making Colour Prints 17 The three colours which are used for ‘subtraction’ are described as ‘minus’ colours. c. Virology and Molecular Biology. Designating or relating to a strand of DNA or RNA having a base sequence that is complementary to that of a strand of messenger RNA (mRNA). ΚΠ 1969 Virology 39 400/1 Radioactively labeled minus strand RNA of a variety of influenza viruses were hybridized with RNA isolated from different myxoviruses (= plus strands) and vice verse. 1973 R. G. Krueger et al. Introd. Microbiol. xviii. 505/1 The replicase binds to the virus plus-strand and produces a complementary minus-strand. 1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 2665/2 Replication of the viral genome in plus strand (messenger-sense) RNA viruses occurs initially via synthesis of complementary minus strand RNA by the viral replicase. 1996 Jrnl. Virol. 70 4269 The pregenome is then reverse transcribed into single-stranded minus-polarity DNA, which is subsequently replicated to double-stranded DNA. †3. colloquial. Being worse off than before; out of pocket. Also: not provided for, lacking (something implied). Also with of. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > loss > [adjective] > suffering loss minus1814 1814 Ann. Reg. 1813 Chron. 44/1 He was considerably minus at the last Newmarket meeting. 1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto VI xxi. 11 Which leaves you minus of the cash. a1827 W. Hickey Mem. (1960) xx. 326 Mordaunt's natural vile temper not being at all improved by being three hundred pounds minus by the week's speculation. 1836 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 33 Twelve boatmen..with very small matters of clothes on, but their black skins prevent them from looking so very uncomfortable as Europeans would in the same minus state. 1854 P. Cary Poems & Parodies 163 And he was left there, minus. 1865 Leaves from Diary Celebrated Burglar 158/2 These poor gin-drinking shadows went nearly minus of their eau de vie. 4. colloquial. Non-existent, absent. Now rare. ΚΠ 1852 C. A. Bristed Five Years Eng. University (ed. 2) 53 His mathematics are decidedly minus, but the use of them is past long ago. 1853 C. Dickens Down with Tide in Househ. Words 5 Feb. 483/2 Being, when called upon to answer for the assault, what Waterloo described as ‘Minus’, or, as I humbly conceived it, not to be found. 1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. xiv. 342 If we ain't minus in less than no time, we're blowed upon. 1930 I. Gershwin Boy! What Love has done to Me in Compl. Lyrics (1993) 168/2 His brains are minus, Never a thought in sight. 5. Used as postmodifier after a letter of the alphabet representing a grade (as assessed by a teacher, etc.): somewhat lower than, beneath (the value assigned to the unmodified letter). ΚΠ 1898 M. Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) I. 2 The examiners..marked my paper ‘gamma-minus-query’. 1932 A. Huxley Brave New World iv. 75 He..called to a lounging couple of Delta-Minus attendants to come and push his machine out. 1958 Oxf. Mag. 13 Mar. 362/1 I have mentioned twenty recent pictures..four have some alpha about them; the rest are gamma minus to beta plus. 1962 M. Drabble Summer Bird-cage i. 13 I..got on the train, where I read..Tender is the Night (beta minus). Compounds C1. minus point n. a point counting against a person or thing; a negative consideration. ΚΠ 1942 Sociometry 5 164 One point is assigned for each ‘like’ he receives, a minus point for each ‘dislike’ and an additional point for each time he is ‘chosen’. 1987 Money Paper June 31/2 Whether these reputations—good or bad—are really deserved is immaterial. There is probably a tendency to exaggerate plus and minus points. minus quantity n. a quantity which is negative or preceded by a minus sign; (chiefly colloquial) something insignificant or negligible; a liability, a disadvantage. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant thing of noughtc1425 nothing such1579 of nothing1583 nullitya1591 O1608 ciphera1616 zero1650 flinga1661 leather and prunella1734 small change1822 minus quantity1843 nuthin'1843 nothingburger1953 the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > negativity or negation > a negative thing privant1586 negation1707 minus quantity1843 1843 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) Oct. 541 State bonds and state credit would have but little to do with ‘cash’ and ‘par values’, or with any value above a minus quantity, if such were the condition. 1886 Longman's Mag. 7 551 The Americans can get our books, and do get them, and republish them and give us nothing—that awful minus quantity, nuppence! 1916 R. Fry Let. 14 Aug. (1972) II. 401 I fear my recommendation would generally prove a minus quantity. 1965 F. Sinclair Most Unnatural Murder xv. 174 Cherub and Phyl wouldn't play; Phyl's a bit of a minus quantity, anyway, from that angle. minus sign n. the mathematical symbol ‘−’. ΚΠ 1851 Sci. Amer. 6 Sept. 407/1 It is not possible for us to occupy the amount of room necessary to explain the plus and minus signs. 1947 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 2 356 When two pure imaginaries are multiplied together a minus sign will register. 1990 M. Torgov St. Farb's Day i. 105 When I look at my bottom line, I see a big minus sign. C2. Printing and Photography. Used to denote the colour obtained by subtracting a specified colour from white light, as minus blue, minus red, etc. (i.e. white light from which the blue, red, etc., wavelengths have been removed). ΚΠ 1901 J. Cadett & E. S. Shepherd Orthochromatic & Three-colour Photogr. 24 [In the Sanger Shepherd process] the prints for the minus green or pink, and minus blue or yellow positives are printed together on a special film. 1936 Discovery Jan. 2/1 It [sc. Monastral Fast Blue BS] is a true ‘minus-red’ pigment for three-colour printing. 1970 D. L. MacAdam Sources of Color Sci. 130 Red, green, and blue, being the colors in positive synthesis, minus red, minus green, and minus blue, or cyan blue, bright crimson and yellow are the printing colors. 1982 Jrnl. Air Pollution Control Assoc. 32 837/1 Twin SLR cameras were used, and the one with CIR film had a Wratten #12 yellow (or minus blue) filter. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < v.1801prep.n.adv.adj.1483
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minusv.

minusprep.n.adv.adj.

Compounds