All 26 Uses of
minute
in
1776
- In the words of the minutes of the meeting: "It was submitted to the consideration of the council whether, under all circumstances, it would not be eligible to leave Long Island and its dependencies [fortifications] and remove the army to New York."
p. 185..9 (definition 1) *minutes = formal notes
- At a council of war on October 16, it was decided that Fort Washing— ton and its garrison should be, in the words of the brief minutes, "retained as long as possible."
p. 231..0 (definition 1)minutes = formal notes (from a meeting)
- According to the minutes, there was only one dissenting voice, and it was General George Clinton, not Lee, as he later implied.
p. 231..2 (definition 1)
- "OPINIONS HERE ARE VARIOUS," Joseph Reed confided to his wife, following a council of war during which he had kept the minutes.
p. 234..9 (definition 1)minutes = formal notes (of a meeting)
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- His Majesty's appearance before Parliament had lasted just twenty minutes, after which, as reported, he returned to St. James's Palace "as peaceably as he went."†
p. 12..5 (definition 2)
- A good musket man could get off three to four rounds per minute, or a shot every fifteen seconds.†
p. 33..5 (definition 2)
- He kept precise account of exactly how long each chase lasted, to the minute.†
p. 48..5 (definition 2)
- If Trask's memory served, the whole row, from start to finish, lasted all of fifteen minutes and nothing more came of it.†
p. 61..9 (definition 2)
- Soldiers were to "lay upon [sleep with] their arms and be ready to turn out at a minute's notice."†
p. 131..8 (definition 2)
- In a few minutes the entire heavens became black as ink, and from horizon to horizon the whole empyrean was ablaze with lightning.†
p. 155..8 (definition 2)
- Having looked things over and conferred with his commanders, Washington approved the plan, including, presumably, a last-minute idea of having the Jamaica Pass patrolled by five young militia officers who had horses.†
p. 163..5 (definition 2)
- "We dragged on at the most tedious pace," wrote Sir James Murray, "halting every minute just long enough to drop asleep, and to be disturbed again in order to proceed twenty yards in the same manner."†
p. 169..1 (definition 2)
- It was only ten minutes or so after leaving the tavern when the officers came up on five dark figures on horseback, the five Americans on patrol.†
p. 169..9 (definition 2)
- But only consider a minute, we have been all this summer digging and building of forts to cover our heads and now we have been obliged to leave them and now we are here and not one shovel full of dirt to cover us….†
p. 202..3 (definition 2)
- Henry Knox had managed to escape at the last minute only by seizing a boat on the Hudson.†
p. 213..9 (definition 2)
- Within minutes Knowlton and Major Leitch both fell, mortally wounded.†
p. 218..7 (definition 2)
- General Grant, who disliked the Hessians almost as much as he disliked Americans, wrote with unalloyed admiration of how they "surmounted every difficulty," and after gaining the heights kept on "at a trot …. and if General Knyphausen had not stopped Colonel Rall, I am convinced he would have been in the fort in five minutes."†
p. 242..3 (definition 2)
- When Percy's attacking troops captured the Morris house, it was, according to Graydon, only fifteen minutes after Washington and his generals made their exit.†
p. 242..5 (definition 2)
- In minutes they had the building surrounded, killed two of the guards, and scattered the rest.†
p. 265..5 (definition 2)
- In a few minutes Lee appeared and surrendered, saying he trusted he would be treated as a gentleman.†
p. 265..8 (definition 2)
- The astonishing raid had taken no more than fifteen minutes.†
p. 265..9 (definition 2)
- The two columns reached their assigned positions outside Trenton at about the same time, a few minutes before eight, an hour after daylight.†
p. 278..3 (definition 2)
- The cannon opened fire with deadly effect down hundreds of yards on each street, and in minutes— "in the twinkling of an eye," Knox said—cleared the streets.†
p. 280..8 (definition 2)
- It had all happened in forty-five minutes or less.†
p. 281..5 (definition 2)
- Minutes passed.†
p. 285..9 (definition 2) *
- The ferocious battle on the Clarke farm, the deciding action of the day, had lasted all of fifteen minutes.†
p. 289..7 (definition 2)
Definitions:
-
(1) (minutes as in: keep the minutes) a written record of what happened at a meeting
-
(2) (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.