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Pri`mi*ge"ni*al (?), a. First born, or first of all; original; primary.
See Primogenial.
{ Pri`mi*ge"ni*ous (?), Pri*mig"e*nous (?), } a. [L. primigenus,
primigenius. See Primogeniture.] First formed or generated; original;
primigenial. Bp. Hall.
Pri"mine (?), n. [L. primus first: cf. F. primine.] (Bot.) The
outermost of the two integuments of an ovule.
This word has been used by some writers to denote the inner integument,
which is formed earlier than the outer. Cf. Secundine.
Prim"ing (?), n. 1. The powder or other combustible used to communicate
fire to a charge of gunpowder, as in a firearm.
2. (Paint.) The first coating of color, size, or the like, laid on
canvas, or on a building, or other surface.
3. (Steam Eng.) The carrying over of water, with the steam, from the
boiler, as into the cylinder.
Priming of the tide. See Lag of the tide, under 2d Lag. -- Priming
tube, a small pipe, filled with a combustible composition for firing
cannon. -- Priming valve (Steam Eng.), a spring safety valve applied to
the cylinder of a steam engine for discharging water carried into the
cylinder by priming. -- Priming wire, a pointed wire used to penetrate
the vent of a piece, for piercing the cartridge before priming.
||Pri*mip"a*ra (?), n. [L., fr. primus first + parere to bring forth.]
||(Med.) A woman who bears a child for the first time.
Pri*mip"a*rous (?), a. [See Primipara.] Belonging to a first birth;
bearing young for the first time.
Pri*mip"i*lar (?), a. [L. primipilaris, fr. primipilus the centurion of
the first cohort of a Roman legion, fr. primus pilus the division made
up of the triarii in the Roman army.] Of or pertaining to the captain
of the vanguard of a Roman army. Barrow.
||Pri*mi"ti*a (?), n.; pl. PrimitiÊ (#) (Primitias (#), obs.). [L.
||primitiae, pl., fr. primus first. Cf. Premices.] (Eng. Law) The first
||fruit; the first year's whole profit of an ecclesiastical preferment.
The primitias of your parsonage.
Spenser.
Pri*mi"tial (?), a. Being of the first production; primitive; original.
[Obs.] Ainsworth.
Prim"i*tive (?), a. [L. primitivus, fr. primus the first: cf. F.
primitif. See Prime, a.] 1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or
origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as,
primitive innocence; the primitive church. "Our primitive great sire."
Milton.
2. Of or pertaining to a former time; old- fashioned; characterized by
simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress.
3. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in
grammar.
Primitive axes of coˆrdinate (Geom.), that system of axes to which the
points of a magnitude are first referred, with reference to a second
set or system, to which they are afterward referred. -- Primitive chord
(Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal
denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to
derivative. Moore (Encyc. of Music). -- Primitive circle (Spherical
Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the
primitive plane. -- Primitive colors (Paint.), primary colors. See
under Color. -- Primitive Fathers (Eccl.), the acknowledged Christian
writers who flourished before the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. Shipley.
-- Primitive groove (Anat.), a depression or groove in the epiblast of
the primitive streak. It is not connected with the medullary groove,
which appears later and in front of it. -- Primitive plane (Spherical
Projection), the plane upon which the projections are made, generally
coinciding with some principal circle of the sphere, as the equator or
a meridian. -- Primitive rocks (Geol.), primary rocks. See under
Primary. -- Primitive sheath. (Anat.) See Neurilemma. -- Primitive
streak or trace (Anat.), an opaque and thickened band where the
mesoblast first appears in the vertebrate blastoderm.
Syn. -- First; original; radical; pristine; ancient; primeval;
antiquated; old-fashioned.
Prim"i*tive, n. An original or primary word; a word not derived from
another; -- opposed to derivative.
Prim"i*tive*ly, adv. 1. Originally; at first.