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Prime

//pɹaɪ̯m// adj, name, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective

1
First in importance, degree, or rank.
"Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe."
2
First in time, order, or sequence.
"Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals."
3
First in excellence, quality, or value.
"This is a prime location for a bookstore."
4
Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).
"Thirteen is a prime number."
5
Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.

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6
Having its complement closed under multiplication.
7
Such that the annihilator of any nonzero submodule is equal to the annihilator of the whole module.
8
Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.
9
Early; blooming; being in the first stage.
"[...] His ſtarrie Helme unbuckl’d ſhew’d him prime / In Manhood where Youth ended ; by his ſide / As in a glittering Zodiac hung the Sword, / Satans dire dread, and in his hand the Spear."
10
Lecherous, lewd, lustful. obsolete
"It is impoſſible you ſhould ſee this, / Were they as prime as Goates, as hot as Monkies, / As ſalt as Wolues, in pride; and fooles as groſſe / As ignorance made drunke: [...]"

Adjective

1
first in rank or degree wordnet
2
used of the first or originating agent wordnet
3
being at the best stage of development wordnet
4
of superior grade wordnet
5
of or relating to or being an integer that cannot be factored into other integers wordnet

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Noun

1
The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour. historical
"His larum bell might lowd and wyde be hard, When cause requyrd, but neuer out of time; Early and late it rong, at euening and at prime."
2
An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.
"Most primes are won with gaps on the field; most sprints are in bunches."
3
a natural number that has exactly two distinct natural number divisors: 1 and itself wordnet
4
The religious service appointed to this hour.
5
the time of maturity when power and vigor are greatest wordnet

Show 19 more definitions

6
The early morning generally. obsolete
"They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Pryme […]"
7
the second canonical hour; about 6 a.m. wordnet
8
The earliest stage of something. archaic
"To this end we see how quickly sundry artes Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the world."
9
the period of greatest prosperity or productivity wordnet
10
The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
"When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver’d o'er with white;"
11
The chief or best individual or part.
"Give him always of the prime; And but a little at a time."
12
Something which is first in importance or rank: a prime defense company, mortgage lender, etc.
"I found just as we were fearful we would find that many of the big primes felt that this was a change of policy on the part of the U.S. Government to let the big fellows take care of it, and they were ready to cut back, and in many instances were cutting back[…]"
13
The first note or tone of a musical scale.
14
The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
15
A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
"Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes."
16
A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
17
A series of consecutive blocks. A prime of six prevents the opponent's pieces from passing.
"I'm threatening to build a prime here."
18
The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
19
Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1. obsolete
20
An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
21
The priming in a flintlock. obsolete
"[…] he pull’d the Trigger, but Providence being pleas’d to preserve me for some other Purpose, the Cock snapp’d, and miss’d Fire. Whether the Prime was wet in the Pan, or by what other Miracle it was I escap’d his Fury, I cannot say […]"
22
Contraction of prime lens, a film lens. abbreviation, alt-of, contraction
"Tomlinson, Shawn M. (2015), Going Pro for $200 & How to Choose a Prime Lens, →ISBN, page 72: “By the time I shifted to my first autofocus film SLR with the Pentax PZ-10, primes were considered things of the past”"
23
A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.
24
A stimulus which causes priming.

Verb

1
To fill or prepare the chamber of a mechanism for its main work. transitive
"You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump."
2
insert a primer into (a gun, mine, or charge) preparatory to detonation or firing wordnet
3
To apply a coat of primer paint to. transitive
"I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat."
4
fill with priming liquid wordnet
5
To be renewed. intransitive, obsolete
"Nights baſhfull Empreſſe, though ſhe often wayne, / As oft repents her darkneſſe ; primes againe ; / And with her circling Hornes does re-embrace / Her brothers wealth, and orbs her ſilver face."

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6
cover with a primer; apply a primer to wordnet
7
To serve as priming for the charge of a gun. intransitive
8
To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed. intransitive
"Although we took our eight bogies along to Whitstable at 60 m.p.h., and made a clean start from there, after Herne Bay the engine primed badly on Blacksole Bank and nearly stopped before we got over the top. Then we ran like the wind across the marshes with half-regulator, 30 per cent cut-off, and the engine blowing off."
9
To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
10
To prepare; to make ready.
"The boys are primed for mischief."
11
To instruct beforehand, as for an examination; to coach. archaic
"to prime a witness"
12
To trim or prune. UK, dialectal, obsolete
"to prime trees"
13
To mark with a prime mark.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English prime, from Old French prime and its etymon, Latin prīmus (“first”), from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo and primus. The noun sense "apostrophe-like symbol" originates from the fact that the symbol ′ was originally a superscript Roman numeral one.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Related to primage and Latin prīmus.

Etymology 4

From French prime (“reward, prize, bonus”).

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