Search

[mey-jer] /ˈmeɪ dʒər/

noun
1.
a commissioned military officer ranking next below a lieutenant colonel and next above a captain.
2.
one of superior rank, ability, etc., in a specified class.
3.
Education.

4.
a person of full legal age (opposed to ).
5.
Music. a major interval, chord, scale, etc.
6.
the majors.

adjective
7.
greater in size, extent, or importance:
the major part of the town.
8.
great, as in rank or importance:
a major political issue; a major artist.
9.
serious or risky:
a major operation.
10.
of or relating to the majority:
the major opinion.
11.
of full legal age.
12.
Music.

13.
pertaining to the subject in which a student takes the most courses:
Her major field is English history.
14.
(initial capital letter) (of one of two male students in an English public school who have the same surname) being the elder or higher in standing:
Hobbes Major is not of a scientific bent.
verb (used without object)
15.
to follow a major course of study:
He is majoring in physics.
/ˈmeɪdʒə/
noun
1.
(military) an officer immediately junior to a lieutenant colonel
2.
a person who is superior in a group or class
3.
a large or important company: the oil majors
4.
(often preceded by the) (music) a major key, chord, mode, or scale
5.
(US & Canadian, Austral & NZ)

6.
a person who has reached the age of legal majority
7.
(logic) a major term or premise
8.
a principal or important record company, film company, etc
9.
(pl) (US & Canadian) the majors, the major leagues
adjective
10.
larger in extent, number, etc: the major part
11.
of greater importance or priority
12.
very serious or significant: a major disaster
13.
main, chief, or principal
14.
of, involving, or making up a majority
15.
(music)

16.
(logic) constituting the major term or major premise of a syllogism
17.
(mainly US & Canadian, Austral & NZ) of or relating to a student’s principal field of study at a university, etc
18.
(Brit) the elder: used after a schoolboy’s surname if he has one or more younger brothers in the same school: Price major
19.
of full legal age
20.
(postpositive) (bell-ringing) of, relating to, or denoting a method rung on eight bells
verb
21.
(US & Canadian, Austral & NZ) (intransitive) usually foll by in. to do one’s principal study (in a particular subject): to major in English literature
22.
(intransitive) usually foll by on. to take or deal with as the main area of interest: the book majors on the peasant dishes
/ˈmeɪdʒə/
noun
1.
Sir John. born 1943, British Conservative politician: Chancellor of the Exchequer (1989–90); prime minister (1990–97)
adj.

c.1300, from Latin maior (earlier *magjos), irregular comparative of magnus “large, great” (see magnate). Used in music (of modes, scales, or chords) since 1690s, on notion of an interval a half-tone greater than the minor.
n.

military rank, 1640s, from French major, short for sergent-major, originally a higher rank than at present, from Medieval Latin major “chief officer, magnate, superior person,” from Latin maior “an elder, adult,” noun use of the adjective (see major (adj.)). The musical sense attested by 1797.
v.

“focus (one’s) studies,” 1910, American English, from major (n.) in sense of “subject of specialization” (1890). Related: Majored; majoring. Earlier as a verb, in Scottish, “to prance about, or walk backwards and forwards with a military air and step” [Jamieson, 1825].

adjective

Impressive; weighty; important, serious:The TV pictures of the smoking problem showed overaccessorized secretaries with major hair smoking in dark doorways of an office building (1990s+)