PRIME

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English prīm, from Latin prima hora first hour Date: before 12th century 1. the second of the canonical hours, the first hour of the day usually considered either as 6 a.m. or the hour of sunrise, 2. the earliest stage, spring , youth , the most active, thriving, or satisfying stage or period , the chief or best individual or part ; pick , ~ number , 6. the first note or tone of a musical scale ; tonic , the interval between two notes on the same staff degree, the symbol ′ used to distinguish arbitrary characters (as a and a′ ), to indicate a specific unit (as feet or minutes of time or angular measure), or to indicate the derivative of a function (as p′ or f′(x) ), ~ rate , II. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, feminine of prim first, from Latin primus; akin to Latin prior Date: 14th century first in time ; original , 2. of, relating to, or being a ~ number, having no polynomial factors other than itself and no monomial factors other than 1 , expressed as a product of ~ factors (as ~ numbers and ~ polynomials) , 3. first in rank, authority, or significance ; principal , having the highest quality or value , of the highest grade regularly marketed, not deriving from something else ; primary , ~ly adverb ~ness noun III. verb (~d; priming) Etymology: probably from 1~ Date: 1513 transitive verb fill , load , 2. to prepare for firing by supplying with priming, to insert a ~r into (a cartridge case), to apply the first color, coating, or preparation to , 4. to put into working order by filling or charging with something , to supply with an essential prerequisite (as a hormone, nucleic acid, or antigen) for chemical or biological activity , to instruct beforehand ; coach , stimulate , intransitive verb to become ~