minor at i on (minor ash on)

[= F. mino ration = Sp. minor a cion = Pg. minor ação = It. minor azione, 3779 Thou may'st not wander in that labyrinth: There Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk. Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 3. 189. ening; diminution. IMG:content-0681.jpg:[blocks in formation] Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 2. 2. In med., mild purgation by laxatives. minorative (mino-ra-tiv), a. and n. [F. mi noratif, minorative, minorative, = Sp Sp. Pg. minorativo, le ening, = It. minorativo, minorative; as minor a t(ion) + -ive.] I. a. Mildly laxative: applied to certain medicines. II. n. A mildly laxative medicine. For a minorative or gentle potion he took four hundred pound weight of colophoniac scammony. Urquhart , tr. of Rabelais, ii. 33. ( Davies .) minore (mi'nor-es), n. [ Tyrwhitt .) [This word is found in the early printed editions of the "Romaunt of the Rose,” L. 149. Movere e appears in modern editions taken from the original French ( Rom . of the Rose, 1. 141).]