All 50 Uses of
minute
in
Oliver Twist
- There seemed to be some very minute inscription on it; for the Jew laid it flat upon the table, and shading it with his hand, pored over it, long and earnestly.
Chpt 9 (definition 1)minute = small
- The expression was, for the instant, so precisely alike, that the minutest line seemed copied with startling accuracy!
Chpt 12 (definition 1) *minutest = smallest
- But, death, fires, and burglary, make all men equals; so Mr. Giles sat with his legs stretched out before the kitchen fender, leaning his left arm on the table, while, with his right, he illustrated a circumstantial and minute account of the robbery, to which his bearers (but especially the cook and housemaid, who were of the party) listened with breathless interest.
Chpt 28 (definition 2) *minute = detailed
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed, sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish, by setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected from a male infant who had not been possessed of that very useful appendage, a voice, for a much longer space of time than three minutes and a quarter.†
Chpt 1 (definition 3)
- The board then proceeded to converse among themselves for a few minutes, but in so low a tone, that the words 'saving of expenditure,'†
Chpt 3 (definition 3)
- Mr. Sowerberry was closeted with the board for five minutes; and it was arranged that Oliver should go to him that evening 'upon liking'—a phrase which means, in the case of a parish apprentice, that if the master find, upon a short trial, that he can get enough work out of a boy without putting too much food into him, he shall have him for a term of years, to do what he likes with.†
Chpt 4 (definition 3)
- Mr. Bumble then thrashed a boy or two, to keep up appearances; and the reverend gentleman, having read as much of the burial service as could be compressed into four minutes, gave his surplice to the clerk, and walked away again.†
Chpt 5 (definition 3)
- A minute ago, the boy had looked the quiet child, mild, dejected creature that harsh treatment had made him.†
Chpt 6 (definition 3)
- 'Your master's not at home; there's not a man in the house, and he'll kick that door down in ten minutes.'†
Chpt 6 (definition 3)
- 'Run to Mr. Bumble, Noah, and tell him to come here directly, and not to lose a minute; never mind your cap!†
Chpt 6 (definition 3)
- Having rested here, for a minute or so, to collect a good burst of sobs and an imposing show of tears and terror, he knocked loudly at the wicket; and presented such a rueful face to the aged pauper who opened it, that even he, who saw nothing but rueful faces about him at the best of times, started back in astonishment.†
Chpt 7 (definition 3)
- …(every other house in Barnet was a tavern, large or small), gazing listlessly at the coaches as they passed through, and thinking how strange it seemed that they could do, with ease, in a few hours, what it had taken him a whole week of courage and determination beyond his years to accomplish: when he was roused by observing that a boy, who had passed him carelessly some minutes before, had returned, and was now surveying him most earnestly from the opposite side of the way.†
Chpt 8 (definition 3)
- There is a drowsy state, between sleeping and waking, when you dream more in five minutes with your eyes half open, and yourself half conscious of everything that is passing around you, than you would in five nights with your eyes fast closed, and your senses wrapt in perfect unconsciousness.†
Chpt 9 (definition 3)
- Standing, then in an irresolute attitude for a few minutes, as if he did not well know how to employ himself, he turned round and looked at Oliver, and called him by his name.†
Chpt 9 (definition 3)
- It wouldn't have loosened the knot, or kept the drop up, a minute longer.†
Chpt 9 (definition 3)
- This was all done in a minute's space.†
Chpt 10 (definition 3)
- 'His worship will be disengaged in half a minute.†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- After musing for some minutes, the old gentleman walked, with the same meditative face, into a back anteroom opening from the yard; and there, retiring into a corner, called up before his mind's eye a vast amphitheatre of faces over which a dusky curtain had hung for many years.†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- Mr. Fang sat silent for some minutes, and then, turning round to the prosecutor, said in a towering passion.†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- I could get nobody till five minutes ago; and I've run here all the way.'†
Chpt 11 (definition 3)
- Mr. Dawkins whistled for a couple of minutes; then, taking off his hat, scratched his head, and nodded thrice.†
Chpt 12 (definition 3)
- The noise of footsteps on the creaking stairs, a few minutes after the occurrence of this conversation, roused the merry old gentleman as he sat over the fire with a saveloy and a small loaf in his hand; a pocket-knife in his right; and a pewter pot on the trivet.†
Chpt 12 (definition 3)
- He appeared well used to it, however; for he coiled himself up in a corner very quietly, without uttering a sound, and winking his very ill-looking eyes twenty times in a minute, appeared to occupy himself in taking a survey of the apartment.†
Chpt 13 (definition 3)
- 'Stop a minute, my dear,' said the Jew, producing, a little covered basket.†
Chpt 13 (definition 3)
- Don't stop here a minute.†
Chpt 13 (definition 3) *
- Oliver's sobs checked his utterance for some minutes; when he was on the point of beginning to relate how he had been brought up at the farm, and carried to the workhouse by Mr. Bumble, a peculiarly impatient little double-knock was heard at the street-door: and the servant, running upstairs, announced Mr. Grimwig.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- 'Wait a minute!†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- 'I won't be ten minutes, sir,' said Oliver, eagerly.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- 'Let me see; he'll be back in twenty minutes, at the longest,' said Mr. Brownlow, pulling out his watch, and placing it on the table.†
Chpt 14 (definition 3)
- I wish you had been the dog, Fagin, half a minute ago.'†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- In about ten minutes' time, Mr. Fagin was seized with a fit of coughing; upon which Nancy pulled her shawl over her shoulders, and declared it was time to go.†
Chpt 15 (definition 3)
- 'Wait a minute!' said the girl: 'I wouldn't hurry by, if it was you that was coming out to be hung, the next time eight o'clock struck, Bill.†
Chpt 16 (definition 3)
- The receding footsteps of the speaker were heard; and, in another minute, the form of Mr. John Dawkins, otherwise the Artful Dodger, appeared.†
Chpt 16 (definition 3)
- With this irrepressible ebullition of mirth, Master Bates laid himself flat on the floor: and kicked convulsively for five minutes, in an ectasy of facetious joy.†
Chpt 16 (definition 3)
- 'I'll bring him to you in one minute, sir,' replied Mrs. Mann.†
Chpt 17 (definition 3)
- Mr. Bumble opened his eyes; read the advertisement, slowly and carefully, three several times; and in something more than five minutes was on his way to Pentonville: having actually, in his excitement, left the glass of hot gin-and-water, untasted.†
Chpt 17 (definition 3)
- It would be tedious if given in the beadle's words: occupying, as it did, some twenty minutes in the telling; but the sum and substance of it was, that Oliver was a foundling, born of low and vicious parents.†
Chpt 17 (definition 3)
- Mr. Brownlow paced the room to and fro for some minutes; evidently so much disturbed by the beadle's tale, that even Mr. Grimwig forbore to vex him further.†
Chpt 17 (definition 3)
- Master Bates nodded assent, and would have spoken, but the recollection of Oliver's flight came so suddenly upon him, that the smoke he was inhaling got entangled with a laugh, and went up into his head, and down into his throat: and brought on a fit of coughing and stamping, about five minutes long.†
Chpt 18 (definition 3)
- After ruminating for some minutes with his chin sunk on his breast, he raised his head and said, with a deep sigh, that if flash Toby Crackit reported aright, he feared the game was up.†
Chpt 19 (definition 3)
- He remained lost in thought for some minutes; and then, with a heavy sigh, snuffed the candle, and, taking up the book which the Jew had left with him, began to read.†
Chpt 20 (definition 3)
- In pursuance of this request, Nancy quickly laid the cloth; disappearing for a few minutes, she presently returned with a pot of porter and a dish of sheep's heads: which gave occasion to several pleasant witticisms on the part of Mr. Sikes, founded upon the singular coincidence of 'jemmies' being a can name, common to them, and also to an ingenious implement much used in his profession.†
Chpt 20 (definition 3)
- Many of the lamps were already extinguished; a few country waggons were slowly toiling on, towards London; now and then, a stage-coach, covered with mud, rattled briskly by: the driver bestowing, as he passed, an admonitory lash upon the heavy waggoner who, by keeping on the wrong side of the road, had endangered his arriving at the office, a quarter of a minute after his time.†
Chpt 21 (definition 3)
- Oliver and Sikes got in without any further ceremony; and the man to whom he belonged, having lingered for a minute or two 'to bear him up,' and to defy the hostler and the world to produce his equal, mounted also.†
Chpt 21 (definition 3)
- The fog was much heavier than it had been in the early part of the night; and the atmosphere was so damp, that, although no rain fell, Oliver's hair and eyebrows, within a few minutes after leaving the house, had become stiff with the half-frozen moisture that was floating about.†
Chpt 22 (definition 3)
- I've seen older hands of his age took the same way, for a minute or two, on a cold night.'†
Chpt 22 (definition 3)
- 'It's done in a minute,' said Sikes, in the same low whisper.†
Chpt 22 (definition 3)
- The apothecary's apprentice, having completed the manufacture of the toothpick, planted himself in front of the fire and made good use of it for ten minutes or so: when apparently growing rather dull, he wished Mrs. Corney joy of her job, and took himself off on tiptoe.†
Chpt 24 (definition 3)
- If you'll wait ten minutes, he'll be—'†
Chpt 26 (definition 3)
- You put me up for a minute; but now I'm stupid again.'†
Chpt 26 (definition 3)
Definitions:
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(1) (minute as in: minute size) small, exceptionally small, or insignificant
-
(2) (minute as in: minute description) detailed (including even small considerations); and/or careful (done with care)
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(3) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) Much more commonly, minute and minutes refer to a period of time lasting 60 seconds.
Less commonly, they refer to a measurement of angle where 60 minutes make up a single degree, and where a right angle has 90 degrees and a circle has 360 degrees.