1961, abbreviation of mini-car, a small car made by British Leyland (formerly British Motor Corp.). As an abbreviation of miniskirt, it is attested from 1966.
1610s, "a number or set of things of one kind arranged in a line, a continued succession of similar things," also of events following in order, from Latin series "row, chain, series, sequence, succession," from serere "to join, link, bind together, arrange, attach, put; join in speech, discuss" (from PIE root *ser- (2) "to line up"). The earlier word was serie "sequence of thoughts, discussion of a subject" (late 14c.).
The meaning "set of printed works published consecutively and having something in common" is from 1711. The meaning "set of radio or television programs with the same characters and themes" is attested from 1949. The baseball sense of "set of games on consecutive days between the same teams" is from 1862.
also mini-skirt, "skirt with a hem-line well above the knee," 1965, from mini- + skirt (n.); reputedly the invention of French fashion designer André Courrèges (1923-2016).
"The miniskirt enables young ladies to run faster, and because of it, they may have to." [John V. Lindsay, New York Times, Jan. 13, 1967]
Related: Miniskirted.
1957, "make an electronic noise" (originally in reference to Sputnik), from bleep (n.); specific sense of "edit a sound over a word deemed unfit for broadcast" is from 1964. Related: Bleeped; bleeping. Bleeper "pager consisting of a mini radio receiver that announces reception of signals by emitting a bleeping noise" is from 1964.
1670s (earlier seratim, c. 1500), "one after another," from Medieval Latin seriatim, from Latin series "row, series, sequence, succession," from serere "to join together, arrange in a row," from PIE root *ser- (2) "to line up."
