prime
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: prīm
ipa: /pɹaɪ̯m/
rhymes: -aɪm
Forms: form: primes
Etymology: From Middle English prime, from Old French prime and its etymon, Latin prīmus (“first”), from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo and primus.
The noun sense "apostrophe-like symbol" originates from the fact that the symbol ′ was originally a superscript Roman numeral one.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 314:
glosses: The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.
topics: Christianity
glosses: The religious service appointed to this hour.
examples: text: They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Pryme […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 81:
glosses: The early morning generally.
examples: text: To this end we see how quickly sundry artes Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the world.
ref: 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 69:
text: 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,
Hope waits upon the flowry prime,
glosses: The earliest stage of something.
examples: text: 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;
ref: 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:
text: Short were her Marriage-Joys; for in the Prime, / Of Youth, her Lord expir’d before his time: […]
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Sigismonda and Guiscardo, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 124:
text: 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.
ref: 1813, John Chetwode Eustace, chapter 10, in A Tour through Italy, volume 1, London: J. Mawman, pages 225–226:
text: Once upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
ref: 1965, Bob Dylan, “Like a Rolling Stone”:
text: 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.
ref: 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):
glosses: The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
examples: text: Give him always of the prime;
And but a little at a time.
ref: 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 more to ev’ry guest Than he’s able to digest
glosses: The chief or best individual or part.
examples: text: 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[…]
ref: 1966, United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Small Business, Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Select Committee on Small Business, page 60:
text: 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.
ref: 2023 December 4, Can Palmer Luckey Reinvent the U.S. Defense Industry? - WSJ, The Wall Street Journal
glosses: Something which is first in importance or rank: a prime defense company, mortgage lender, etc.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: The first note or tone of a musical scale.
topics: fencing
government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
text: 3 is a prime.
topics: algebra
mathematics
number-theory
sciences
glosses: A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.
topics: card-games
games
glosses: A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
examples: text: I'm threatening to build a prime here.
topics: backgammon
games
glosses: A series of consecutive blocks. A prime of six prevents the opponent's pieces from passing.
glosses: The symbol ′ used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: 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.
glosses: An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
examples: text: […] 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 […]
ref: 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:
glosses: The priming in a flintlock.
examples: Tomlinson, Shawn M. (2015), Going Pro for $200 & How to Choose a Prime Lens, →ISBN, page 72: “By the time I shifted to my first autofocus film SLR with the Pentax PZ-10, primes were considered things of the past”
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: Contraction of prime lens, a film lens.
glosses: A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.
topics: human-sciences
psychology
sciences
glosses: A stimulus which causes priming.
Synonyms: sense: early morning generally
word: early morning
word: morning
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: bloom
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: blossom
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: efflorescence
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: flower
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: flush
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: heyday
sense: most active, thriving, or successful stage or period
word: peak
sense: chief or best individual or part
word: choice
sense: chief or best individual or part
word: prize
sense: chief or best individual or part
word: quality
sense: chief or best individual or part
word: select
sense: algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure
english: when an integer
translation: when an integer
word: prime number
sense: A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.
word: white
Hyponyms: sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: additive prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: annihilating prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: associated prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Bell prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Carol prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Catalan prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: centered decagonal prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: centered heptagonal prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: centered square prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: centered triangular prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Chen prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: circular prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: cousin prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Cuban prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Cullen prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: delannoy prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: deletable prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: dihedral prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: double factorial prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: double Mersenne prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Eisenstein prime without imaginary part
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: emirp
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Euclid-Mullin Sequence prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Euclid prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Euler irregular prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: even prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: factorial prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Fermat prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Fibonacci prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: fortunate prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Gaussian prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: generalized Fermat prime base 10
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Genocchi prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Gilda's prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: good prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: happy prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: harmonic prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Higgs prime for squares
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: highly cototient prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: illegal prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: irregular prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: isolated prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Kynea prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: left-truncatable prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Leyland prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: long prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Lucas prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: lucky prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Markov prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Mersenne prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Mills prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: minimal prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Motzkin prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Newman–Shanks–Williams prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: non-generous prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: odd prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Padovan prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: palindromic prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: palindromic wing prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: partition prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Pell prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: permutable prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Perrin prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Pierpont prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Pillai prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: prime of Binary Quadratic Form
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: prime subring
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: prime triplet
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: primeval prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: primorial prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Proth prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Pythagorean prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Quartan prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Ramanujan prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: regular prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: repunit prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: right-truncatable prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: safe prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Schröder-Hipparchus prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Schröder prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: self prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: sexy prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Smarandache-Wellin prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Smarandache–Wellin prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: snowball prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Solinas prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Sophie Germain prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: star prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Stern prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: super-prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: supersingular prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: swinging prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Thabit prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: titanic prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: twin prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: two-sided prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Ulam prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: unique prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wagstaff prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wall-Sun-Sun prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wall–Sun–Sun prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Weakly primes
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wedderburn-Etherington prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wieferich prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wilson prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Wolstenholme prime
sense: (number theory) Prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number
word: Woodall prime
Derived terms: Belphegor's prime
cuban prime
Eisenstein prime
eta prime
past one's prime
primality
prime of life
right-trunctable prime
side prime