Major

Major, mā′jur, adj. greater in number, quantity, or size: more important: (mus.) greater by a semitone.—n. a person of full age (21 years): an officer in rank between a captain and lieutenant-colonel.—v.i. to play the major, to talk big.—ns. Majorat (ma-zhō-rä′), primogeniture; Mā′jorate, Mā′jorship, the office or rank of major: majority; Mā′jor-dō′mo, an official who has the general management in a large household: a general steward: a chief minister (Sp. mayor-domo, a house-steward—L. major, greater, domus, a house); Mā′jor-gen′eral, an officer in the army next in rank below a lieutenant-general; Major′ity, the greater number: the amount between the greater and the less number: full age (at 21): the office or rank of major.—Major key (mus.), a key in which the semitones lie between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth; Major premise (logic), the principal or major statement in a syllogism; Major scale (see Major key).—Go over to, or Join, the majority, to die; The majority, the Great majority, the dead. [L., comp. of magnus.]