Definition of "prime"

prime¹

/pɹaɪ̯m/

adjective
comparative primer, superlative primest
1. First in importance, degree, or rank.
2. First in time, order, or sequence.
  Quotations
  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. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 21
  Better to clear prime forests, heave and thump / A league of street in summer solstice down, / Than hammer at this reverend gentlewoman.
  1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part III”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 52
  The process of recording a transaction in the accounts begins with an entry in what is termed a book of prime entry.
  2013, Ralph Denny, Accounts for Solicitors - Page 33
3. First in excellence, quality, or value.
  Quotations
  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
  "Is it very pleasant to be there, Bob?" / "Prime," said the turnkey.
  1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “The Child of the Marshalsea”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, book the first (Poverty), page 50
  Average cost, 10d. to 18. per lb. for the primest parts.
  1861, Isabella Beeton, Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
4. (mathematics, lay) Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).
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.
  Quotations
  [...] 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], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 245–248
9. (obsolete) Lecherous, lewd, lustful.
  Quotations
  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, [Act III, scene iii], page 53
noun
plural primes
1. (historical) The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.
  Quotations
  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, page 314
2. (Christianity) The religious service appointed to this hour.
3. (obsolete) The early morning generally.
  Quotations
  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, page 81
4. (now rare) The earliest stage of something.
  Quotations
  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, book II, page 69
  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.
  Quotations
  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
  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, […], page 124
  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.
  1813, John Chetwode Eustace, chapter 10, in A Tour through Italy‎, volume 1, London: J. Mawman, pages 225–226
  Once upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
  1965, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Like a Rolling Stone”
  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.
  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)
6. The chief or best individual or part.
  Quotations
  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.
  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. Something which is first in importance or rank: a prime defense company, mortgage lender, etc.
  Quotations
  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. (music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.
9. (fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
10. (algebra, number theory) A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
  Quotations
  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
11. (card games) A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
12. (backgammon) Six consecutive blocks, which prevent the opponent's pieces from passing.
13. The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
14. (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.
15. An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
16. (obsolete) The priming in a flintlock.
  Quotations
  […] 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 […]
  1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar‎, London, pages 95–96
17. (film) Contraction of prime lens, a film lens.
18. A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.

prime²

/pɹaɪ̯m/

verb
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.
2. (transitive) To apply a coat of primer paint to.
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be renewed.
  Quotations
  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, 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.
  Quotations
  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 the engine blowing off.
  1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, 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; to instruct beforehand; to coach.
  Quotations
  “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, page 42
8. (UK, dialect, obsolete) To trim or prune.
9. (mathematics) To mark with a prime mark.

prime³

/pɹiːm/

noun
plural primes
1. (cycling) An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.
  Quotations
  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

Definition of "prime"

prime1

adjective

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noun

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prime2

verb

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prime3

noun

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prime¹

prime²

prime³