Emily Dickinson Lexicon

minor, adj. [L. comp. of minus.] (webplay: between, bulk, less, lower, opposed, single, smaller).

1. Lesser; smaller in size.
2. Insignificant; unimportant; harmless.
3. Subordinate; secondary; lesser in quantity or quality; not principal.
4. Tiny; miniature; diminutive; [fig.] mournful; haunting; plaintive; poignant sounding; in a musical key that has intervals lower by one semitone; [word play on “Minority”] having members smaller than birds; having fewer members than other groups of creatures; [word play on “Minorite”] Franciscan; having to do with the minor friars of the monastic order of St. Francis in the Catholic Church; [metaphor] close to nature; pertaining to a group of humming crickets.