prime

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See also: Prime and primé

English

Etymology 1

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Borrowed from French prime, from Latin primus (“first”), from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

prime (not comparable)

  1. First in importance, degree, or rank.
    Synonyms: greatest, main, most important, primary, principal, top
    Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe.
  2. First in time, order, or sequence.
    Synonyms: earliest, first, original
    Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals.
  3. First in excellence, quality, or value.
    Synonyms: excellent, top quality
    This is a prime location for a bookstore.
  4. (mathematics, lay) Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).
    Thirteen is a prime number.
  5. (mathematics, technical) Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.
  6. (mathematics) Having its complement closed under multiplication: said only of ideals.
  7. Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.
  8. Early; blooming; being in the first stage.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 245–248:
      [...] 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.
  9. (obsolete) Lecherous, lewd, lustful.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

prime (plural primes)

  1. (historical) The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 2, Canto 9, p. 314,[1]
      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. (Christianity) The religious service appointed to this hour.
  3. (obsolete) The early morning generally.
  4. (now rare) The earliest stage of something.
    • 1593, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie, London, 1604, Book 1, p. 69,[3]
      To this end we see how quickly sundry artes Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the world.
    • 1645, Edmund Waller, “To a very young Lady” (earlier title: “To my young Lady Lucy Sidney”) in Poems, &c. Written upon Several Occasions, and to Several Persons, London: H. Herringman, 1686, p. 101,[4]
      Hope waits upon the flowry prime,
  5. The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
    • c. 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 12,[5]
      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;
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Sigismonda and Guiscardo, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 124:
      Short were her Marriage-Joys; for in the Prime, / Of Youth, her Lord expir’d before his time: […]
    • 1813, John Chetwode Eustace, A Tour through Italy, London: J. Mawman, Volume 1, Chapter 10, pp. 225-226,[6]
      None but foreigners, excluded by their religion from the cemeteries of the country, are deposited here […] . The far greater part had been cut off in their prime, by unexpected disease or fatal accident.
    • 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone
      Once upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
    • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      And it’s daunting because each segment has to tell a full, complete story in something like six minutes while doing justice to revered source material and including the non-stop laughs and genius gags that characterized The Simpsons in its god-like prime.
  6. The chief or best individual or part.
    • 1726, Jonathan Swift, “To a Lady, who desired the author to write some verses upon her in the heroic style” in The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, London: W. Bowyer et al., Volume 7, p. 396,[7]
      Give no more to ev’ry guest
      Than he’s able to digest:
      Give him always of the prime;
      And but a little at a time.
  7. (music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.
  8. (fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
  9. (algebra, number theory) A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
    • 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
      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.
    3 is a prime.
  10. (card games) A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
  11. (backgammon) Six consecutive blocks, which prevent the opponent's pieces from passing.
    I'm threatening to build a prime here.
  12. The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
  13. (chemistry, obsolete) 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.
  14. An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
  15. (obsolete) The priming in a flintlock.
    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, pp. 95–96,[8]
      […] 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 […]
  16. (film) Contraction of prime lens, a film lens
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Synonyms
Antonyms
  • (algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure): composite
Hyponyms
(number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

Related to primage and primus.

Pronunciation

Verb

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  1. (transitive) To prepare a mechanism for its main work.
    You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump.
  2. (transitive) To apply a coat of primer paint to.
    I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.
  3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be renewed.
    • 1634, Francis Quarles, “My Soule Hath Desired Thee in the Night”, in Emblemes, London: G. M., published 1635, book III, page 129:
      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.
  4. (intransitive) To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
  5. (intransitive, of a steam boiler) 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.
  6. To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
  7. To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to coach.
    to prime a witness
    The boys are primed for mischief.
  8. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To trim or prune.
    to prime trees
  9. (mathematics) To mark with a prime mark.
Synonyms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 3

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French prime (“reward, prize, bonus”).

Pronunciation

Noun

prime (plural primes)

  1. (cycling) An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.
    • 1997 Arnie Baker, Smart Cycling: Successful Training and Racing for Riders of All Levels
      Most primes are won with gaps on the field; most sprints are in bunches.

Derived terms

Related terms

Anagrams

Albanian

Etymology

From proj.[1]

Noun

prime f (plural prime, definite prima, definite plural primet)

  1. remedies

References

  1. ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “prime”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 345

French

Etymology

From the feminine of Old French prim, prin, from Latin prīmus, from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʁim/
  • Audio(file)
  • Audio (Paris)(file)
  • Rhymes: -im

Noun

prime f (plural primes)

  1. reward; prize; bonus
  2. premium (insurance policy)

Further reading

Anagrams

Interlingua

Adjective

prime

  1. first

Italian

Adjective

prime

  1. feminine plural of primo

Anagrams

Latin

Numeral

Template:la-num-form

  1. vocative masculine singular of prīmus

References

  • “prime”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • prime in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Pronunciation

Adjective

prime

  1. nominative feminine plural of prim
  2. accusative feminine plural of prim
  3. nominative neuter plural of prim
  4. accusative neuter plural of prim

Spanish

Verb

prime

  1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of primar.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of primar.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of primar.

Tarantino

Adjective

prime

  1. first
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