prime

Adjective

prime (comparative primer, superlative primest)

1. First in importance, degree, or rank.
   • Our prime concern here is to keep the community safe.

   Synonyms:

   greatest, main, most important, primary, principal, top

2. First in time, order, or sequence.
   • Both the English and French governments established prime meridians in their capitals.
   • I thought it lawful from my forme act, / And the ſame end ; ſtill watching to oppreſs / Iſrael’s oppreſſours : of what now I ſuffer / She was not the prime cauſe, but I my ſelf, / Who vanquiſht with a peal of words (O weakneſs !) / Gave up my fort of ſilence to a Woman.1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 21

   Synonyms:

   earliest, first, original

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,' […]1820, Thomas Moore, W. Simpkin, R. Marshall, Jack Randall's Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius

   Synonyms:

   excellent, top quality

4. (lay) Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).
   • Thirteen is a prime number.

   Synonyms:

   indivisible

5. Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.
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.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
10. (obsolete) 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: [...]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act...

Noun (1)

prime (plural primes)

1. (historical) 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.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 314
2. The religious service appointed to this hour.
3. (obsolete) The early morning generally.
   • They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Pryme […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 81

   Synonyms:

   early morning

4. (archaic) 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.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], 3rd edition, London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, book II, page...
   • Hope waits upon the flowry prime,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
5. 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;1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
   • Short were her Marriage-Joys; for in the Prime, / Of Youth, her Lord expir’d before his time: […]1700, [John] Dryden, “Sigismonda and Guiscardo, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 124

   Synonyms:

   bloom, blossom, efflorescence, flower, flush, heyday, peak

6. The chief or best individual or part.
   • Give him always of the prime;
     And but a little at a time.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, Give no...

   Synonyms:

   choice, prize, quality, select

7. 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[…]1966, United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Small Business, Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Select Committee on Small Business, page 60
   • 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.2023 December 4, Can Palmer Luckey Reinvent the U.S. Defense Industry? - WSJ, The Wall Street Journal
8. The first note or tone of a musical scale.
9. The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
10. 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.2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4
    • 3 is a prime.

    Synonyms:

    prime number

11. A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
12. A series of consecutive blocks. A prime of six prevents the opponent's pieces from passing.
    • I'm threatening to build a prime here.

Verb

prime (third-person singular simple present primes, present participle priming, simple past and past participle primed)

1. (transitive) 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.
2. (transitive) To apply a coat of primer paint to.
   • I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.

   Synonyms:

   ground, undercoat

3. (intransitive, obsolete) 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.1634, Francis Quarles, “My Soule Hath Desired Thee in the Night”, in Emblemes, London: G. M., published 1635, book III, page 129
4. (intransitive) To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
5. (intransitive) 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.
   • 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...1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 220
6. To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
7. 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.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Dobbin of Ours”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 42
8. (archaic) To instruct beforehand, as for an examination; to coach.
   • to prime a witness
9. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) To trim or prune.
   • to prime trees
10. To mark with a prime mark.

Noun (2)

IPA/pɹiːm/

prime (plural primes)

1. 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.1997, Arnie Baker, Smart Cycling: Successful Training and Racing for Riders of All Levels

Proper noun capitalized: Prime

Prime (plural Primes)

1. A surname.