prim
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɪm
Etymology 1
Old French prim, prin, from Latin primus (“first”).
Adjective
prim (comparative primmer, superlative primmest)
- prudish, straight-laced
- 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
- God damn it, what does she want of me, this sad, beautiful bridgeplayer of the Fifth Floor, with her air of lost love and her prim carnality? After seven years of her, Brotherhood still had no idea. He'd be out touring the stations, he'd be in Bongabonga land. He'd not speak or write to her for months. Yet he'd hardly unpacked his toothbrush before she was in his arms, demanding him with her sad and hungry eyes.
-
- formal; precise; affectedly neat or nice
- prim regularity; a prim person
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Jonathan Swift to this entry?)
Usage notes
Often used in the collocation “prim and proper”.
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
prim (third-person singular simple present prims, present participle primming, simple past and past participle primmed)
Etymology 2
See privet.
Noun
prim
- (plants) privet
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for prim in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin prīmus[1], from earlier prīsmos from *prīsemos from Proto-Italic *priisemos.
Related terms
Further reading
- “prim” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “prim” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
- “prim” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “prim” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Ladin
Alternative forms
Romanian
Etymology
From Latin prīmus, from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /prim/
Adjective
prim m or n (feminine singular primă, masculine plural primi, feminine and neuter plural prime)