Minor Prophets
THE, so-called from the brevity of their writings, are 12 in number, viz., Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: M (82)
These 16 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Minor Prophets, Minorca, Minot.
Minorca
the second largest of the BALEARIC ISLANDS (q. v.), lying 25 miles N. E. of Majorca; length, 28 miles, average width, 10 miles; area, 293 square miles; pop. about 45,000. Its coast is rocky and inaccessible, but broken by numerous inlets, and its surface low, undulating, and stony. Its productions and climate are similar to those of Majorca, though the soil is less fertile. Chief towns, Port Mahon and Ciudadela (8,000).. The island is remarkable for its great number of ancient megalithic remains (called talayots) and its stalactite caves (at Prella).
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Minot
a city of North Dakota, the county-seat of Ward co., situated on the Mouse river, 200 miles W. N. W. of Grand Forks, and on the Great Northern, the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie railroads. It contains the State Normal School, a public library, court house, and Federal buildings. It is the center of a mining and milling region. The mines are of lignite coal. Pop. (1910) 6,188; (1920) 10,476.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Minot's Ledge
or COHASSET ROCKS, in Massachusetts, a promontory and lighthouse on the S. W. shore of Boston Harbor, about 8 miles S. E. of Boston Light; it exhibits a fixed light 66 feet high.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Minotaurus
A celebrated monster, half a man and half a bull, for which a number of young Athenian men and maidens were yearly exacted to be devoured. The Minotaur was confined in a famous labyrinth in Crete , where at length it was slain by Theseus , who was guided out of the labyrinth by a clew of thread given to him by Ariadne , daughter of King Minos . 2026 Editor's Note: The creature described here as Minotaurus is also known in classical mythology as Asterion or Asterius. While the text mentions a yearly tribute, traditional accounts specify that King Minos demanded fourteen young noble citizens every nine years to be offered as sacrificial victims to the Minotaur. The labyrinth that housed the beast was designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus. (Ed: BR 2026-06-26)
Only in 1000 Classical Characters
Minsk
chief town of Lithuania, on an affluent of the Beresina, 331 miles E. N. E. of Warsaw; existed in the 11th century; was Lithuanian in the 13th; Polish in the 15th; and was annexed by Russia in 1793; pop. about 120,000. The province of Minsk has a generally flat surface, and abounds in marshes, swamps, moors, lakes, and forests; area, 35,293 square miles; pop. about 3,000,000; less than 24 per cent. of the total area is actually cultivated. Self-governing since 1919.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Minster
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) the church of an abbey or priory; but often applied, like the German "Münster," to cathedral churches without any monastic connection. MINSTREL (Old French menestrel, menestral), a singer and performer on musical instruments. Minstrels in the Middle Ages were a class of men who lived by the arts of poetry and music. The minstrels or jongleurs only recited or chanted poems, but did not write or invent them; or perhaps accompanied on some instrument the troubadour, who sang his own compositions. It was not an unusual thing for a troubadour to have several minstrels or jongleurs in his service. The minstrels in later times formed a separate guild, uniting for the purposes of mutual protection and support. With the decline of chivalry, the send yearly seven boys and seven girls profession of the minstrel also declined, and eventually sank so low that they are classed among vagabonds and beggars in statutes in the reign of Elizabeth. In the United States a term used to describe a negro stage singer of Southern negro songs, or a white singer blacked up to sing such songs.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Minstrel
a musician, especially one who sings or recites to the accompaniment of a musical instrument. In the Middle Ages the word minstrel, brought into England by the Normans, was used to designate a musician who devoted himself to the entertainment of the nobility, going from castle to castle singing ballads, often of his own composition, to the music of harp or lute, telling stories, and sometimes accompanying song and story with gesture and mimicry. Sometimes a band of minstrels would travel about together. Again a minstrel would attach himself to the service of a particular lord, following him to war and sharing with him the dangers and honors of whatever exploits he might be engaged upon. The minstrel in the service of a lord was sometimes called a minstrel-squire. The old Anglo-Saxon name for him was scop, while the wandering minstrel was called a gleeman. The Welsh called their wandering singers bards. The Scandinavians used the word skalds. The social importance of minstrels gradually declined in England until, in the sixteenth century, they were classed with rogues and vagabonds. See Rhapsode ; Bard
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Mint
. See Catnip ; Pennyroyal; Peppermint , etc.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Mint
the name given to several herbaceous aromatic plants of the genus Mentha, distributed throughout temperate regions; and they abound in resinous dots which contain an essential oil. Spearmint is generally used, mixed with vinegar and sugar, in sauce. Peppermint yields the well-known stimulating oil of the same name. Pennyroyal is used for the same purposes.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Minute
The one-sixtieth part of an hour. Sixty seconds equal one minute.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Minute Hand
The hand of a time-piece which indicates the minutes and which traverses the circle of the dial once each hour.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Minute Wheel
The wheel of the motion work into which the cannon pinion depths.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Minute Wheel Pinion
The pinion upon which the minute wheel is mounted and which depths with the hour wheel.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Minute Wheel Stud
The pin or stud upon which minute wheel pinion revolves.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Mira
or STELLA MIRA (the wonderful star), the star Omicron Ceti, a remarkable variable, whence the name. It is in the neck of "the whale." Its variability was discovered in 1596 by Fabricus. MIRABEAU (mē-rä-bō'). ANDRÉ BONIFACE RIQUETI, VICOMTE DE, a French royalist, brother of Honoré Gabriel de Mirabeau; born in Bignon, 0 MIRABEAU Provence, France, Nov. 30, 1754. From an early age he was notorious for his illregulated life and for a thirst that earned him the nickname of "Barrel Mirabeau." He fought with distinction in the American war, and at the outbreak of the Revolution was returned to the States-General by the nobility of Limoges. After the death of his brother he quitted France, and raised on the Rhine the "Hussars of Death," a legion of embittered émigres, with whom he began in 1792 a bloody partisan warfare against his country. He was run through by accident in Freiburg, Baden, Sept. 15, 1792.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia