prime

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   First in importance, degree, or rank.

   • Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe.
2. 2

   First in time, order, or sequence.

   • Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals.
   • Better to clear prime forests, heave and thump / A league of street in summer solstice down, / Than hammer at this reverend gentlewoman.
3. 3

   First in excellence, quality, or value.

   • This is a prime location for a bookstore.
   • Gemmen (says he), you all well know / The joy there is whene'er we meet; / It's what I call the primest go, / And rightly named, 'tis—'quite a treat,' […]
   • "Is it very pleasant to be there, Bob?" / "Prime," said the turnkey.
4. ›+ 38 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Having exactly two integral factors

      Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).

      • Thirteen is a prime number.
   2. 5

      Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.

   3. 6

      Having its complement closed under multiplication.

   4. 7

      Such that the annihilator of any nonzero submodule is equal to the annihilator of the…

      Such that the annihilator of any nonzero submodule is equal to the annihilator of the whole module.

   5. 8

      Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.

   6. 9

      Early

      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.
   7. 10

      Lecherous, lewd, lustful.

      • 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: [...]
   8. 11

      The first hour of daylight

      The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.

      • 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.
   9. 12

      The religious service appointed to this hour.

   10. 13

       The early morning generally.

       • They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Pryme […]
   11. 14

       The earliest stage of something.

       • 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, Hope waits upon the flowry prime,
   12. 15

       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;
       • Short were her Marriage-Joys; for in the Prime, / Of Youth, her Lord expir’d before his time: […]
       • 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.
   13. 16

       The chief or best individual or part.

       • Give him always of the prime; And but a little at a time.
   14. 17

       Something which is first in importance or rank

       Something which is first in importance or rank: a prime defense company, mortgage lender, etc.

       • The large primes are struggling to do things the way Anduril does, because they're publicly traded companies with an existing investor class that invested in them to be a certain type of company.
   15. 18

       The first note or tone of a musical scale.

   16. 19

       The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the…

       The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.

   17. 20

       A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.

       • 3 is a prime.
   18. 21

       A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero

       A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.

   19. 22

       A series of consecutive blocks. A prime of six prevents the opponent's pieces from…

       A series of consecutive blocks. A prime of six prevents the opponent's pieces from passing.

       • I'm threatening to build a prime here.
   20. 23

       The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and…

       The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.

   21. 24

       Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element

       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.

   22. 25

       An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.

   23. 26

       The priming in a flintlock.

       • […] 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 […]
   24. 27

       Contraction of prime lens, a film lens.

       • 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”
   25. 28

       A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.

   26. 29

       A stimulus which causes priming.

   27. 30

       To fill or prepare the chamber of a mechanism for its main work.

       • You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump.
   28. 31

       To apply a coat of primer paint to.

       • I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.
   29. 32

       To be renewed.

       • 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.
   30. 33

       To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.

   31. 34

       To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become…

       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.

   32. 35

       To apply priming to (a musket or cannon)

       To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).

   33. 36

       To prepare

       To prepare; to make ready.

       • The boys are primed for mischief.
       • “He’s priming himself,” Osborne whispered to Dobbin, and at length the hour and the carriage arrived for Vauxhall.
   34. 37

       To instruct beforehand, as for an examination

       To instruct beforehand, as for an examination; to coach.

       • to prime a witness
   35. 38

       To trim or prune.

       • to prime trees
   36. 39

       To mark with a prime mark.

   37. 40

       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.
   38. 41

       A surname.

The neighborhood

• synonymmorning
• antonymcompositeantonym(s) of
• neighborbiprime
• neighborpseudoprime
• neighborsemiprime