Word Meanings - PRIME - Book Publishers vocabulary database

the compar. prior former. See Prior, a., Foremost, Former, and cf. 1. First in order of time; original; primeval; primitive; primary. "Prime forests." Tennyson. She was not the prime cause, but I myself. Milton. Note: In this sense the word is

Additional info about word: PRIME

the compar. prior former. See Prior, a., Foremost, Former, and cf. 1. First in order of time; original; primeval; primitive; primary. "Prime forests." Tennyson. She was not the prime cause, but I myself. Milton. Note: In this sense the word is nearly superseded by primitive, except in the phrase prime cost. 2. First in rank, degree, dignity, authority, or importance; as, prime minister. "Prime virtues." Dryden. 3. First in excellence; of highest quality; as, prime wheat; a prime quality of cloth. 4. Early; blooming; being in the first stage. His starry helm, unbuckled, showed him prime In manhood where youth ended. Milton. 5. Lecherous; lustful; lewd. Shak. 6. Marked or distinguished by a mark called a prime mark. Prime and ultimate ratio. . See Ultimate. -- Prime conductor. See under Conductor. -- Prime factor , a factor which is a prime number. -- Prime figure , a figure which can not be divided into any other figure more simple than itself, as a triangle, a pyramid, etc. -- Prime meridian , the meridian from which longitude is reckoned, as the meridian of Greenwich or Washington. -- Prime minister, the responsible head of a ministry or executive government; applied particularly to that of England. -- Prime mover. A natural agency applied by man to the production of power. Especially: Muscular force; the weight and motion of fluids, as water and air; heat obtained by chemical combination, and applied to produce changes in the volume and pressure of steam, air, or other fluids; and electricity, obtained by chemical action, and applied to produce alternation of magnetic force. An engine, or machine, the object of which is to receive and modify force and motion as supplied by some natural source, and apply them to drive other machines; as a water wheel, a water- pressure engine, a steam engine, a hot-air engine, etc. Fig.: The original or the most effective force in any undertaking or work; as, Clarkson was the prime mover in English antislavery agitation. -- Prime number , a number which is exactly divisible by no number except itself or unity, as 5, 7, 11. -- Prime vertical , the vertical circle which passes through the east and west points of the horizon. -- Prime-vertical dial, a dial in which the shadow is projected on the plane of the prime vertical. -- Prime-vertical transit instrument, a transit instrument the telescope of which revolves in the plane of the prime vertical, -- used for observing the transit of stars over this circle.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of PRIME)

• Eligible
• Capable
• suitable
• worthy
• desirable
• preferable
• choice
• prime
• Select
• Choice
• picked
• fine
• chosen
• selected
• excellent

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of PRIME)

• Lump
• confound
• sweep

Related words: (words related to PRIME)

• PICKABACK
  A woman stooping to take a child pickaback. R,Jefferies.
• CONFOUNDED
  1. Confused; perplexed. A cloudy and confounded philosopher. Cudworth. 2. Excessive; extreme; abominable. He was a most confounded tory. Swift. The tongue of that confounded woman. Sir. W. Scott.
• PICK-FAULT
  One who seeks out faults.
• PRIMEVALLY
  In a primeval manner; in or from the earliest times; originally. Darwin.
• CHOICELY
  1. With care in choosing; with nice regard to preference. "A band of men collected choicely, from each county some." Shak. 2. In a preferable or excellent manner; excellently; eminently. "Choicely good." Walton.
• PICKEER
  To make a raid for booty; to maraud; also, to skirmish in advance of an army. See Picaroon. Bp. Burnet. (more info) cattle, ultimately fr. L. pecus, pecoris, cattle; cf. F. picorée, Sp.
• ELIGIBLE
  1. That may be selected; proper or qualified to be chosen; legally qualified to be elected and to hold office. 2. Worthy to be chosen or selected; suitable; desirable; as, an eligible situation for a house. The more eligible of the two
• PICKPACK
  Pickaback.
• PICKET
  A detached body of troops serving to guard an army from surprise, and to oppose reconnoitering parties of the enemy; -- called also outlying picket. 4. By extension, men appointed by a trades union, or other labor organization, to intercept
• PICKPENNY
  A miser; also, a sharper. Dr. H. More.
• PICK-UP; PICKUP
  = Brush b. 3. One that is picked up, as a meal hastily got up for the occasion, a chance acquaintance, an informal game, etc. (more info) 1. Act of picking up, as, in various games, the fielding or hitting of a ball just after it strikes
• PICKSY
  See PIXY
• PICKTHANK
  One who strives to put another under obligation; an officious person; hence, a flatterer. Used also adjectively. Smiling pickthanks, and base newsmongers. Shak.
• SWEEPAGE
  The crop of hay got in a meadow.
• CHOICEFUL
  Making choices; fickle. His choiceful sense with every change doth fit. Spenser.
• PICKEERER
  One who pickeers.
• PICK
  Dan. pikke, D. pikken, G. picken, F. piquer, W. pigo. Cf. Peck, v., 1. To throw; to pitch. As high as I could pick my lance. Shak. 2. To peck at, as a bird with its beak; to strike at with anything pointed; to act upon with a pointed instrument;
• CONFOUNDEDLY
  Extremely; odiously; detestably. "Confoundedly sick." Goldsmith.
• PICKTOOTH
  A toothpick. Swift.
• PICKLOCK
  1. An instrument for picking locks. Shak. 2. One who picks locks; a thief. "A picklock of secrets." Jer. Taylor.
• UNCAPABLE
  Incapable. "Uncapable of conviction." Locke.
• ENSWEEP
  To sweep over or across; to pass over rapidly. Thomson.
• INCAPABLE
  Unqualified or disqualified, in a legal sense; as, a man under thirty-five years of age is incapable of holding the office of president of the United States; a person convicted on impeachment is thereby made incapable of holding an office of profit
• UNPICK
  To pick out; to undo by picking.
• INELIGIBLE
  Not eligible; not qualified to be chos Burke.
• EARPICK
  An instrument for removing wax from the ear.
• OVERCAPABLE
  Too capable. Overcapable of such pleasing errors. Hooker.
• REPRIMER
  A machine or implement for applying fresh primers to spent cartridge shells, so that the shells be used again.
• MISPICKEL
  Arsenical iron pyrites; arsenopyrite.