Words related to prime
"first coat of paint or other material given to any surface," c. 1600, verbal noun from prime (v.). Meaning "act of priming a firearm" is by 1590s; that of "gunpowder in the pan of a firearm" is from 1620s.
mid-15c., "first in time, earliest in appearance;" late 15c. as "first in rank or importance," from French premier "first, chief," from Latin primarius "of the first rank; chief, principal; excellent," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)).
"formal, stiffly precise in speech or manners," 1709, the sole surviving sense of a word attested first as a verb (1680s) "to assume a formal, precise demeanor," a cant word of uncertain origin, perhaps from French prim "thin, small, delicate" (Old French prim "fine, delicate"), from Latin primus "finest," literally "first" (see prime (adj.)).
Later, "deck out with great nicety, dress to effect, form or dispose with affected preciseness" (1721). It also is attested as a noun from 1700, "formal, precise, or stuck-up person." Related: Primly; primness.
also primadonna, 1782, "principal female singer in an opera," from Italian prima donna "first lady," from Latin prima, fem. of primus "first" (see prime (adj.)) + domina "lady" (see dame). Extended meaning "temperamental person" is attested by 1834.
The erroneous form premadonna (or pre-madonna) is attested from at least 1950s and increasingly after 1990s. Not to be confused with the adjective pre-Madonna (by 1991), in reference to popular music before the rise to stardom of Madonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone), c. 1985.
late 14c., primacie, "preeminent position, supremacy, condition of being first in order, power, or importance," from Old French primacie (14c.; Modern French primatie) and directly from Medieval Latin primatia "office of a church primate" (12c.), from Late Latin primas (genitive primatis) "principal, chief, of the first rank," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)).
c. 1600, "belonging to the earliest age or stage," from Medieval Latin primalis "primary," from Latin primus "first" (see prime (adj.)). Psychological sense, in reference to Freud's theory of behaviors springing from the earliest stage of emotional development, is attested from 1918. Primal scream in psychology is from a best-selling book of 1971 (Arthur Janov, "The Primal Scream. Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis"). Related: Primality.
early 15c., primarie, "earliest, most basic, first in time or sequence;" 1560s, "first or highest in rank or importance," from Latin primarius "of the first rank, chief, principal, excellent," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)).
The meaning "first or lowest in order of growth or development; elementary, preparatory" is from c. 1800, first in education; primary school is attested by 1793 in translations from French, from école primaire.
The Paris journals ... are full of a plan, brought forward by Fourcroy, for the establishment of primary schools, which is not interesting to an English reader. [London Times, April 27, 1802]
Primary color is attested from 1610s (at first the seven of the spectrum, later the three pigments from which the others can be made). Related: Primarily.
Primary and prime mean first in time, and now especially first in order of importance: as, a primary class, definition, consideration, planet; prime mover, importance, idea .... Primitive means belonging to the beginning or origin, original, hence old-fashioned, having an old-fashioned simplicity: as, a primitive word, the primitive church, primitive purity, manners, unconventionality, dress. ... Primeval means of the flrst or earliest ages, and nothing else. [Century Dictionary]
"high bishop, preeminent ecclesiastical official of a province," having a certain jurisdiction, as vicar of the pope, over other bishops in his province, c. 1200, from Old French primat and directly from Medieval Latin primatem (nominative primas) "church primate," noun use of Late Latin adjective primas "of the first rank, chief, principal," from primus "first" (see prime (adj.)).
The meaning "animal of the biological order including monkeys and humans" is attested from 1876, from Modern Latin Primates, the order name (Linnæus), from plural of Latin primas; so called for being regarded as the "highest" order of mammals (originally also including bats).
