Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

first

[furst]

adjective

being before all others with respect to time, order, rank, importance, etc., used as the ordinal number of one: the first edition; the first vice president.

Music. highest or chief among several voices or instruments of the same class: first alto; first horn.

Automotive. low (def. 31).

(often initial capital letter) being a member of the household or an intimate acquaintance of the president of the U.S. or of the governor of a state: the First Lady; Checkers, the first dog.

adverb

before all others or anything else in time, order, rank, etc.

before some other thing, event, etc.: If you're going, phone first.

for the first time: She first visited Atlanta in 1980.

in preference to something else; rather; sooner: I'd die first.

in the first place; firstly.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

First is always a great word to know.

So is dotted quarter rest. Does it mean:

quarter rest that is lengthened by a dot

tone on the third degree from a given tone counted as the first

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

10.

the person or thing that is first in time, order, rank, etc.

11.

the beginning.

12.

the first part; first member of a series.

13.

Music.

the voice or instrument that takes the highest or chief part in its class, especially in an orchestra or chorus.

a leader of a part or group of performers.

14.

Automotive. low gear; first gear: She shifted into first and drove off.

EXPAND

15.

the winning position or rank in a race or other competition.

16.

Baseball. first base.

17.

Usually, firsts. Commerce.

a product or goods of the first or highest quality.

goods produced according to specifications, without visible flaws. Compare second¹ (def. 23), third (def. 12).

18.

British University.

first-class honors. Compare class (def. 18).

a person who has won such honors.

COLLAPSE

Idioms

19.

first and last, everything considered; above all else; altogether: First and last, it is important to know oneself.

20.

first off, Informal. at the outset; immediately: He wanted to know first off why he hadn't been notified.

21.

first thing, before anything else; at once; promptly: I'll call you first thing when I arrive.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English fyr(e)st (see fore¹, -est); cognate with German Fürst prince

Related forms

first·ness, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To first

Example Sentences

We took a substantial hit to our equipment within the first week.

Researchers have taken only the first steps toward finding definitive answers to both of those questions.

Printing too much debt caused the current problem in the first place.

EXPAND

We took a substantial hit to our equipment within the first week.

Researchers have taken only the first steps toward finding definitive answers to both of those questions.

Printing too much debt caused the current problem in the first place.

For the first time ever, a panda raised by humans was reintroduced into the wild today.

Astronomers report they have detected methane for the first time in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system.

The lumbering beasts coexisted with the first humans for tens of thousands of years and then died off.

Water plants deeply and regularly for the first two years.

For the first time, scientists were able to track an asteroid from space to the ground and recover pieces of it.

For the first few weeks before and after a course begins, a syllabus gets a lot of attention.

Scientists have discovered for the first time a dinosaur with shelled eggs inside her belly.

America's first permanent colonists have long been considered lazy and incompetent.

Many do-ahead steps make it easy to set out the first tastes of spring.

Less than a year after it was first suggested, the world's first antilaser is here.

The moon is our close cosmic neighbor, and humans have been exploring its surface ever since they first developed telescopes.

Voracious, venomous lionfish are the first exotic species to invade coral reefs.

Water newly planted wisterias regularly for the first year or two, until the plant is well established.

Earth's first animals may have evolved in salty lakes, not oceans, a new study suggests.

It wasn't the first time the federal government sought to spare wildlife by setting aside land.

The first summer after planting, let each vine grow unchecked from the base of its support structure.

China successfully launched its first manned space mission today.

From his first moments, the calf charmed the keepers, waving his tiny trunk with animation.

Grafted tomatoes unite strong roots from the first kind of tomato with great fruit from the second kind.

Many marveled at their first sight of an ice cream cone.

Generally, raspberry canes grow to full size in the first year, then bear fruit in their second summer.

Wednesday, for the first time in more than a decade, the full moon will shine over the first day of fall.

Jellylike matter exuding from the base of the tree is the first indication of the pest°s presence.

Manhattan's gridlocked streets were a proving ground this week for the first production gas-electric hybrid sport-utility vehicle.

Can produce well the first year it–s planted, and resists red stele.

By the time you get back to the first section harvested, new leaves will have appeared.

The new kids on the block who got lucky with their first crop.

Place a second bunch on the base, overlapping the first slightly to cover the pins.

Consider the reason behind vintage labeling in the first place.

Simmering these sausages in beer first makes for quick grilling and helps feed tailgate guests fast.

Tuck in bread, and you have a showy first course or main dish that's easy to grasp.

For some people, that first whiff of the uncorrupted outdoors might trigger a set of survival instincts.

In the first few years after planting, a mulch will help keep soil cool and suppress weeds as the junipers fill in.

It doesn't take much to turn a head of romaine or a prepacked bag of greens into a gourmet first course.

Don't expect such growth the first year after transplanting, though.

His first viewing of the show comes five weeks after previews began.

When the nation's black female philosophers meet for the first time next month, the.

Music was the first media business to be seriously affected by piracy and has suffered most.

In his journey from surveyor to soldier to leader, our first president used cartography to get a feel for the young nation.

Edging a driveway, petunias form the first tier of a multi-layered planting of perennials and conifers.

Scientists have created the first genetically modified human embryo.

Writers are not people for whom a piece of writing always comes out right the first time.

Marketing spending is one of the first things companies decide to cut when faced with slowing sales.

Boulders, a crater, moon dust and an overworked computer all stood in the way of humankind's first lunar touchdown.

After many false starts, scientists finally understood the first fossils of horned dinosaurs.

For the first time, astronomers have taken a visual image of a multiple-planet solar system beyond our own.

The cost to you of failing to negotiate your first faculty position can be significant.

Because of the severity there, the first step must be to mend the holes in the world's safety net.

The scientific first opens a new era in which scientists can directly observe the.

The first carbon tax to reduce the greenhouse gases from imports comes not between two nations, but between two states.

For the first time milk could be kept pure and storable without benefit of refrigeration.

Did you know there's a name for that wonderful smell you get when the first raindrops hit earth that has been dry for.

The first synthetic genome is pieced together by scientists, the next-to-last step in creating man-made life.

The online posting will appear first among job search results and be highlighted to ensure it stands out from other job ads.

The first villages came with the emergence of agriculture and the domestication of animals:.

The first artificial organelle may help lead to safer heparin production and, someday, entire artificial cells.

For the first time, too, it could be distributed over great distances.

The first part of the trip explores the coast, a region of emerald rain.

Panasonic is the first of what likely will be many consumer electronics companies to release a.

The discovery provides the first physical evidence that chimpanzees coexisted.

First ant species with a mostly mushroom diet uncovered by researchers.

Little-known facts about the nation's first president.

If you've never grown anything from seed before, arugula is a great first crop.

Rescued from the realms of theory and myth, triple and quadruple rainbows have been caught on camera for the first time.

By their first birthday, babies are getting locked into the sounds of the language they hear spoken.

For the first time on record, workers drilling at a.

The first time you build a fire in the oven is exciting.

The significant milestone marks the first time engineers.

It was the first untethered walk ever and was among the last.

W hen one thinks of fragrance, jasmine is one of the first plants that comes to mind.

Find out why the summer solstice is the first day of summer, and why it's the longest day of the year-but not the hottest.

To call it simple is an understatement: kitchen and living room on the first floor, sleeping loft and two bathrooms on the second.

She discusses her first failure, the hardships of the ocean, and the.

Instead, it resulted in some of the first violent clashes of the antiwar movement.

Hand pulling or hoeing is your first line of defense against weeds, especially annual and biennial kinds.

T hese are among the first shrubs to bloom each year.

He first combined plants with textures and forms that play off one another.

Foothill, the first harvested variety, has a mild taste and pink seeds.

The first signs that life can exist in the deepest seas were nets full of mangled goo.

The show borrows heavily from other sci-fi sources and the first episode was heavy on exposition.

The fossil provides the first ever snapshot of an ancient, three-level, vertebrate food chain.

For the first time, scientists have watched magma move through a volcano before it erupts in fountains of ash and lava.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

first (fɜːst)

—*adj*
1.	a. coming before all others; earliest, best, or foremost
	b. (as noun): I was the first to arrive
2.	preceding all others in numbering or counting order; the ordinal number of one. Often written: 1st
3.	rated, graded, or ranked above all other levels
4.	denoting the lowest forward ratio of a gearbox in a motor vehicle
5.	music
	a. denoting the highest part assigned to one of the voice parts in a chorus or one of the sections of an orchestra: first soprano; the first violins
	b. denoting the principal player in a specific orchestral section: he plays first horn
6.	first thing as the first action of the day: I'll see you first thing tomorrow
7.	first things first things must be done in order of priority
8.	(in negative constructions) the first thing even one thing: he doesn't know the first thing about me

—n
9.	the beginning; outset: I knew you were a rogue from the first; I couldn't see at first because of the mist
10.	chiefly (Brit) education Full term: first-class honours degree an honours degree of the highest class
11.	something which has not occurred before: a first for the company
12.	the lowest forward ratio of a gearbox in a motor vehicle; low gear
13.	music
	a. the highest part in a particular section of a chorus or orchestra
	b. the instrument or voice taking such a part
	c. the chief or leading player in a section of an orchestra; principal
14.	music a rare word for prime

—*adv*
15.	before anything else in order, time, preference, importance, etc: do this first; first, remove the head and tail of the fish
16.	first and last on the whole; overall
17.	from first to last throughout
18.	for the first time: I've loved you since I first saw you
19.	(sentence modifier) in the first place or beginning of a series of actions: first I want to talk about criminality

[Old English fyrest; related to Old Saxon furist, Old Norse fyrstr, German Fürst prince, one who is first in rank]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

first

O.E. fyrst "foremost," superlative of fore; from P.Gmc. *furisto (cf. O.H.G. furist, O.N. fyrstr, Dan. første, O.Fris. fersta, M.Du. vorste "first," Ger. Fürst "prince"), superlative of *fur-/*for-, from PIE *pro- (cf. Skt. pura "before, formerly;" see

EXPAND

pro-). First-class (1858) "is from the universities via the railways" [Weekley]; first-rate (1660s) is from classes of warships in the British navy. First aid is that given at the scene, pending the arrival of a doctor; firsthand (also first-hand, first hand) is attested from 1690s. First Lady as an informal title for the wife of a U.S. president was in use by 1908, short for First lady of the land.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

first (fûrst)
adj.