Prime

Pronunciation

• enPR: prÄ«m, IPA: /pɹaɪ̯m/
• Rhymes: -aɪm

From Old French prime, from Latin primus ("first"), from Old Latin pri ("before"), from Proto-Indo-European *per- ("beyond, before").

Full definition of prime

Adjective

1. First in importance, degree, or rank.Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe.
2. First in time, order, or sequenceBoth the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals.
• Tennysonprime forests
• MiltonShe was not the prime cause, but I myself.
3. First in excellence, quality, or value.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.
• MiltonHis starry helm, unbuckled, showed him prime
  In manhood where youth ended.
9. (obsolete) Lecherous; lustful; lewd.

Synonyms

• (first in importance, degree, or rank) greatest, most important, main, primary, principal, top
• (first in excellence, quality, or value) excellent, top quality
• (first in time, order, or sequence) earliest, first, original
• (having no nontrivial factors) indivisible
• (dividing a factor of any product it divides)
• ((of an ideal) having its complement closed multiplicatively)

Related terms

• secondary
• tertiary

Noun

1. (Christianity, historical) One of the daily offices of prayer of the Western Church, associated with the early morning (typically 6 a.m.).
• SpenserEarly and late it rung, at evening and at prime.
2. (obsolete) The early morning.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Prime ...
3. (now rare) The earliest stage of something.
• Hookerin the very prime of the world
• WallerHope waits upon the flowery prime.
4. The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
• Eustacecut off in their prime
• Drydenthe prime of youth
• 2012, April 29, Nathan Rabin, TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992), 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.
• 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling StoneOnce upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
5. The chief or best individual or part.
• Jonathan SwiftGive him always of the prime.
6. (music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.
7. (fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
8. (algebra, number theory) A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
• 2013, Sarah Glaz, Ode to Prime Numbers, 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.
9. 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 ′
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.

Synonyms

• (most active, thriving, or successful stage or period) bloom, blossom, efflorescence, flower, flush, heyday, peak
• (chief or best individual or part) choice, prize, quality, select
• (algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure) prime number (when an integer)

Origin uncertain; perhaps related to primage.

Verb

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.
• QuarlesNight's bashful empress, though she often wane,
  As oft repeats her darkness, primes again.
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 witnessThe boys are primed for mischief.
8. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To trim or prune.to prime trees
9. (math) To mark with a prime mark.

Synonyms

• (to apply a coat of primer paint to) ground, undercoat

Derived terms

• primer

Related terms

• primal
• primary
• primate
• Primates
• primy