Definition: mite

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

mite
     n 1: a small but appreciable amount; "this dish could use a touch
          of garlic" [syn: touch, hint, pinch, jot, speck,
           soupcon]
     2: any of numerous very small to minute arachnids often
        infesting animals or plants or stored foods

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Mite \Mite\, n. [AS. m[=i]te mite (in sense 1); akin to LG.
   mite, D. mijt, G. miete, OHG. m[=i]za; cf. Goth. maitan to
   cut.]
   1. (Zo["o]l.) A minute arachnid, of the order Acarina, of
      which there are many species; as, the cheese mite, sugar
      mite, harvest mite, etc. See Acarina.

   2. [D. mijt; prob. the same word.] A small coin formerly
      circulated in England, rated at about a third of a
      farthing. The name is also applied to a small coin used in
      Palestine in the time of Christ.

            Two mites, which make a farthing.     --Mark xii.
                                                  49.

   3. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.

   4. Anything very small; a minute object; a very little
      quantity or particle.

            For in effect they be not worth a myte. --Chaucer.

Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

Mite
   contraction of minute, from the Latin minutum, the translation
   of the Greek word lepton, the very smallest bronze of copper
   coin (Luke 12:59; 21:2). Two mites made one quadrans, i.e., the
   fourth part of a Roman as, which was in value nearly a
   halfpenny. (See FARTHING.)