major : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: major	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for major
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
major adj of greater importance or stature or rank; "a major artist"; "a major role"; "major highways" Antonym(s): minor greater in scope or effect; "a major contribution"; "a major improvement"; "a major break with tradition"; "a major misunderstanding" Antonym(s): minor greater in number or size or amount; "a major portion (a majority) of the population"; "Ursa Major"; "a major portion of the winnings" Antonym(s): minor of the field of academic study in which one concentrates or specializes; "his major field was mathematics" Antonym(s): minor of a scale or mode; "major scales"; "the key of D major" Antonym(s): minor of greater seriousness or danger; "a major earthquake"; "a major hurricane"; "a major illness" Antonym(s): minor of full legal age Antonym(s): minor, nonaged, underage of the elder of two boys with the same family name; "Jones major" n a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines; below lieutenant colonel and above captain British statesman who was prime minister from 1990 until 1997 (born in 1943) Synonym(s): Major, John Major, John R. Major, John Roy Major a university student who is studying a particular field as the principal subject; "she is a linguistics major" the principal field of study of a student at a university; "her major is linguistics" v have as one's principal field of study; "She is majoring in linguistics"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Major \Ma"jor\, [L. major, compar. of magnus great: cf. F. majeur. Cf. {Master}, {Mayor}, {Magnitude}, {More}, a.] 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. Of greater dignity; more important. --Shak. 3. Of full legal age. [Obs.] 4. (Mus.) Greater by a semitone, either in interval or in difference of pitch from another tone. {Major axis} (Geom.), the greater axis. See {Focus}, n., 2. {Major key} (Mus.), a key in which one and two, two and three, four and five, five and six and seven, make major seconds, and three and four, and seven and eight, make minor seconds. {Major offense} (Law), an offense of a greater degree which contains a lesser offense, as murder and robbery include assault. {Major premise} (Logic), that premise of a syllogism which contains the major term. {Major scale} (Mus.), the natural diatonic scale, which has semitones between the third and fourth, and seventh and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees; the scale of the major mode, of which the third is major. See {Scale}, and {Diatonic}. {Major second} (Mus.), a second between whose tones is a difference in pitch of a step. {Major sixth} (Mus.), a sixth of four steps and a half step. In major keys the third and sixth from the key tone are major. Major keys and intervals, as distinguished from minors, are more cheerful. {Major term} (Logic), that term of a syllogism which forms the predicate of the conclusion. {Major third} (Mus.), a third of two steps.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Major \Ma"jor\, n. [F. major. See {Major}, a.] 1. (Mil.) An officer next in rank above a captain and next below a lieutenant colonel; the lowest field officer. 2. (Law) A person of full age. 3. (Logic) That premise which contains the major term. It its the first proposition of a regular syllogism; as: No unholy person is qualified for happiness in heaven [the major]. Every man in his natural state is unholy [minor]. Therefore, no man in his natural state is qualified for happiness in heaven [conclusion or inference]. Note: In hypothetical syllogisms, the hypothetical premise is called the major. 4. [LL. See {Major}.] A mayor. [Obs.] --Bacon.