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Prime minister   /praɪm mˈɪnəstər/   Listen
adjective
Prime  adj.  
1.
First in order of time; original; primeval; primitive; primary. "Prime forests." "She was not the prime cause, but I myself." Note: In this sense the word is nearly superseded by primitive, except in the phrase prime cost.
2.
First in rank, degree, dignity, authority, or importance; as, prime minister. "Prime virtues."
3.
First in excellence; of highest quality; as, prime wheat; a prime quality of cloth.
4.
Early; blooming; being in the first stage. (Poetic) "His starry helm, unbuckled, showed him prime In manhood where youth ended."
5.
Lecherous; lustful; lewd. (Obs.)
6.
Marked or distinguished by a mark (´) called a prime mark. Note: In this dictionary the same typographic mark is used to indicate a weak accent in headwords, and minutes of a degree in angle measurements.
7.
(Math.)
(a)
Divisible by no number except itself or unity; as, 7 is a prime number.
(b)
Having no common factor; used with to; as, 12 is prime to 25.
Prime and ultimate ratio. (Math.). See Ultimate.
Prime conductor. (Elec.) See under Conductor.
Prime factor (Arith.), a factor which is a prime number.
Prime figure (Geom.), a figure which can not be divided into any other figure more simple than itself, as a triangle, a pyramid, etc.
Prime meridian (Astron.), the meridian from which longitude is reckoned, as the meridian of Greenwich or Washington.
Prime minister, the responsible head of a ministry or executive government; applied particularly to that of England.
Prime mover. (Mech.)
(a)
A natural agency applied by man to the production of power. Especially: Muscular force; the weight and motion of fluids, as water and air; heat obtained by chemical combination, and applied to produce changes in the volume and pressure of steam, air, or other fluids; and electricity, obtained by chemical action, and applied to produce alternation of magnetic force.
(b)
An engine, or machine, the object of which is to receive and modify force and motion as supplied by some natural source, and apply them to drive other machines; as a water wheel, a water-pressure engine, a steam engine, a hot-air engine, etc.
(c)
Fig.: The original or the most effective force in any undertaking or work; as, Clarkson was the prime mover in English antislavery agitation.
Prime number (Arith.), a number which is exactly divisible by no number except itself or unity, as 5, 7, 11.
Prime vertical (Astron.), the vertical circle which passes through the east and west points of the horizon.
Prime-vertical dial, a dial in which the shadow is projected on the plane of the prime vertical.
Prime-vertical transit instrument, a transit instrument the telescope of which revolves in the plane of the prime vertical, used for observing the transit of stars over this circle.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Prime minister" Quotes from Famous Books



... 31st.—Not content with having laid sacrilegious hands on the clock, the Government have now deranged the calendar and kicked Whit-Monday into August. But it is all in the good cause of piling up shells against the Bosches, so the House cheerfully approved the PRIME MINISTER'S announcement. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, June 7, 1916 • Various

... years of age, and Photinus, his prime minister, called a council of his ablest officers; though their advice had no more weight than he was pleased to allow it. He ordered each, however, to give his opinion. But who can, without indignation, consider ...
— The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch - Being Parts of The "Lives" of Plutarch • Plutarch

... waste-paper. And now at last, and when it might least have been expected, here was this Joe Toddyhigh turning up and claiming acquaintance with a great public character, who on the morrow would be cracking jokes with the Prime Minister of England, and who had only, at any time during the next twelve months, to say the word, and he could shut up Temple Bar, and make it no ...
— Master Humphrey's Clock • Charles Dickens

... moment, Mr. Lyndon," he said, "the Prime Minister is out of London. We have communicated with him, and we expect him back tonight. In his absence it falls to me to thank you most unreservedly both on behalf of the Government and the nation for what you have done. It would be difficult to overrate ...
— A Rogue by Compulsion • Victor Bridges

... wealth, our Pacific possessions had shown an extraordinary production of precious metals, our population had increased more than ten millions. If an alliance with the United States was desirable for England in 1848, it was far more desirable in 1861, and Lord Palmerston being Prime Minister in the latter year, his power to propose and promote it was far greater. Is there any reason that will satisfactorily account for His Lordship's abandonment of this ideal relation of friendship between ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine


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