Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MA'JOR, a. [L.]

1. Greater in number, quantity or extent; as, the major part of the assembly; the major part of the revenue; the major part of the territory.
2. Greater in dignity. My major vow lies here. Shak.
3. In music, an epithet applied to the modes in which the third is four semitones above the tonic or key-note, and to intervals consisting of four semitones. Busby. Major and minor, in music, are applied to concords which differ from each other by a semitone. Major tone, the difference between the fifth and fourth, and major semitone is the difference between the major fourth and the third. The major tone surpasses the minor by a comma. Encyc.