Prime

GRE Barron TOEFL 考研

[编辑] 解释

I. noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English prīm, from Latin prima hora first hour
Date: before 12th century
1.
- a. often capitalized the second of the canonical hours
- b. the first hour of the day usually considered either as 6 a.m. or the hour of sunrise
2.
- a. the earliest stage
- b. spring
- c. youth
3. the most active, thriving, or satisfying stage or period <in the prime of his life>
4. the chief or best individual or part ; pick <prime of the flock, and choicest of the stall — Alexander Pope>
5. prime number
6.
- a. the first note or tone of a musical scale ; tonic
- b. the interval between two notes on the same staff degree
7. the symbol ′ used to distinguish arbitrary characters (as a and a′), to indicate a specific unit (as feet or minutes of time or angular measure), or to indicate the derivative of a function (as p′ or f′(x)) — compare double prime
8. prime rate

II. adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, feminine of prim first, from Latin primus; akin to Latin prior
Date: 14th century
1. first in time ; original
2.
- a. of, relating to, or being a prime number — compare relatively prime
- b. having no polynomial factors other than itself and no monomial factors other than 1 <a prime polynomial>
- c. expressed as a product of prime factors (as prime numbers and prime polynomials) <a prime factorization>
3.
- a. first in rank, authority, or significance ; principal <a prime example>
- b. having the highest quality or value <prime farmland>
- c. of the highest grade regularly marketed — used of meat and especially beef
4. not deriving from something else ; primary
? primely adverb
? primeness noun

III. verb (primed; priming)