a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
(of a boiler) to deliver or discharge steam containing an excessive amount of water.
34.
to harvest the bottom leaves from a tobacco plant.
Origin: before 1000; 1910–15 for def. 5; (adj.) Middle English (< Old French prim) < Latin prīmusfirst (superlative corresponding to priorprior1); (noun) in part derivative of the adj.; in part continuing Middle English prim(e) first canonical hour, Old English prim < Latin prīma (hōra) first (hour); (v.) apparently derivative of the adj.
Related forms
prime·ness, noun
non·prime, adjective
re·prime, verb (used with object), -primed, -prim·ing.
Synonyms 1. primary. 7.Prime,primeval,primitive have reference to that which is first. Prime means first in numerical order or order of development: prime meridian; prime cause. Primeval means belonging to the first or earliest ages: the primeval forest. Primitive suggests the characteristics of the origins or early stages of a development, and hence implies the simplicity of original things: primitive tribes, conditions, ornaments, customs, tools.
mod. alcohol or drug intoxicated. : The whole college was primed by midnight.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source