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Minuteman

American  
[min-it-man] / ˈmɪn ɪtˌmæn /

noun

plural

Minutemen

  1. (sometimes lowercase) a member of a group of American militiamen just before and during the Revolutionary War who held themselves in readiness for instant military service.

  2. a U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile with three stages, powered by solid-propellant rocket engines.

  3. a member of a small, secret, ultraconservative organization formed into armed groups for the declared purpose of conducting guerrilla warfare against a communist invasion of the U.S.

Minuteman British  
/ ˈmɪnɪtˌmæn /

noun

  1. (sometimes not capital) (in the War of American Independence) a colonial militiaman who promised to be ready to fight at one minute's notice

  2. a US three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Minuteman

An Americanism dating back to 1765–75; minute 1 + man

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.