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prime Definition

prime (prīm)

adjective

  1. first in time; original; primitive; primary
  2. first in rank or authority; chief the prime minister
  3. first in importance or value; principal; main a prime advantage
  4. first in quality; of the highest excellence prime beef
  5. from which others are derived; fundamental; basic
  6. Math.
    1. of or being a prime number
    2. having no factor in common except 1 9 and 16 are prime to each other

Etymology: ME < MFr < L primus, first < OL pri, before < IE base *per-, beyond > far, first

noun

    1. R.C.Ch. a part of the Divine Office orig. assigned to the first hour of daylight (in the Liturgy of the Hours, both Lauds and Prime have been replaced by Morning Prayer)
    2. the first hour of the daylight, conventionally taken to begin about 6 a.m.
    3. the earliest part of something; beginning
    1. springtime
    2. the springtime of life; youth
    1. the best, most vigorous, or most fully mature period or stage of a person or thing a soprano in her prime
    2. the best part of anything
    3. the best of several or many; pick; cream
  4. a symbol () used
    1. to distinguish between different values of the same variable
    2. to distinguish a letter, number, or other character from another of the same kind, as A
    3. for certain units of measure, as feet or minutes of arc
  5. Math. prime number
  6. Music unison

Etymology: ME < OE prim < L prima (hora), first (hour): see primethe

transitive verb primed, prim′·ing

  1. to make ready; prepare a team primed for a game
  2. to prepare (a gun) for firing or (a charge) for exploding by providing with priming or a primer
    1. to get (a pump) into operation by pouring in water until the suction is established
    2. to get (a carburetor, etc.) into operation by adding extra fuel
  4. to undercoat, size, etc. (a surface) in preparation as for painting
  5. to provide (a person) beforehand with information, answers, etc.

intransitive verb

  1. to prime a person or thing
  2. to let a spray of water mix with the steam forced into the cylinder, as of a steam engine

prime Related Forms

prime′·ness noun

prime Synonyms

prime

modif.

  1. Principal

    earliest, beginning, original; see principal.

  2. Excellent

    top, choice, superior; see best 1, excellent.

prime Usage Examples

Object

  • canvas: Much of the foreground is dominated only by primed canvas.
  • pump: Buy As You View sponsor The Event and have pump primed The Gwent Experience Wales first interactive safety center and theater for education.
  • funding: With 1 million pounds of pump priming funding over the next 18 months to support new rough sleeping strategies in six other areas.

Converse of object

generate: The weirdest formulas for generating primes that I've come across are these.

Adjective modifier

  • twin: We've seen that twin primes seem to occur forever, yet we can find arbitrarily large gaps between primes.
  • flat: Heard from a distance, in changes, bells with flat primes sound merely characterful rather than nasty.
  • large: For many years numbers of this form provided the largest known primes.

Modifies a noun

  • minister: A senior Scottish Labor MP said the prime minister must stop defying public opinion over the crisis in Lebanon.
  • mover: In 1975 he was the prime mover in the rescue of the Savage Company Archives from King's Lynn.
  • suspect: His partner and close friend, Ron, is prime suspect in the slaying of his ex-wife and Beau's barred from the investigation.
  • contractor: We continue to look to our prime contractors who are responsible for managing their software suppliers ' performance.
  • location: Detached 1 1/2 story villa in prime, private location within walking distance of city center.
  • example: Just last week we heard a prime example of where business can benefit society.

Used with adjective complement

pump: This investment will pump prime deprived areas to develop future proposals for the LEGI.

Modifying Another Word

  • then: I do not recall the then prime minister telling us it had nothing to do with us declaring war on Germany.
  • fully: The pump had been not been running fully primed but chose today to kick in.
  • well: Belfast in the 1790s was well primed for revolution.
  • always: Our customer care team is always primed to answer your questions by e-mail.

Preposition: of

life: They show in both cases the ideal official, who listens, who is powerful and who exists in the prime of life.

Preposition: with

primer: Mr G Jones, Carlisle Response: Any absorbent surface can be primed with an acrylic primer.