- (after the summer) “I haven’t seen you in a minute!”
Minute
noun; other word formation type widening
a long time. It has widened to a long period of time from a specific, and in fact short, period of time. It came about because people when people tell you “in a second”, it often takes several minutes rather than a second. This term follows that widened logic, so instead of meaning a minute, its time period is expanded by orders of magnitude as well.
Etymology : minute (n.) widened from minute (n.) "sixtieth part of an hour or degree," late 14c., from Old French minut (13c.) or directly from Medieval Latin minuta "minute, short note," from Latin minuta, noun use of fem. of minutus "small, minute" [etymonline]
Source : returning to high school, Lubbock, TX on August 22, 2011
Last modified: 25 November 2013