Part 536

Prim"er (?), n. [Originally, the book read at prime, the first canonical hour. LL. primae liber. See Prime, n., 4.] 1. Originally, a small prayer book for church service, containing the little office of the Virgin Mary; also, a work of elementary religious instruction.

The primer, or office of the Blessed Virgin.

Bp. Stillingfleet.

2. A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading or spelling book for a beginner.

As he sat in the school at his prymer.

Chaucer.

3. (Print.) A kind of type, of which there are two species; one, called long primer, intermediate in size between bourgeois and small pica [see Long primer]; the other, called great primer, larger than pica.

Great primer type.

Pri*me"ro (?), n. [Sp. primera, fr. primero first, from L. primarius. See Premier.] A game at cards, now unknown. Shak.

Prim"er*ole (?), n. (Bot.) See Primrose. [Obs.] "She was a primerole." Chaucer.

Pri*me"val (?), a. [L. primaevus; primus first + aevum age. See Prime, a., and Age.] Belonging to the first ages; pristine; original; primitive; primary; as, the primeval innocence of man. "This is the forest primeval." Longfellow.

From chaos, and primeval darkness, came Light.

Keats.

Pri*me"val*ly, adv. In a primeval manner; in or from the earliest times; originally. Darwin.

Pri*me"vous, a. Primeval. [Obs.]

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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.