| 释义 |
primary, a. and n.|ˈpraɪmərɪ|
[ad. L. prīmāri-us of the first rank, chief, principal, f. prīmus first: see prime a. and -ary1.]
A. adj.
I. General senses.
1. Of the first order in time or temporal sequence; earliest, primitive, original.
1471Ripley Comp. Alch. ix. v. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 174 Fyrst thou them Putrefye Her prymary qualytes destroying utterly. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 357 Besides this originall, and primary foundation, divers others have made impressions according unto different ages and persons. 1651C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 107 So we grant that primary antiquity is a sure note of truth. 1840Carlyle Heroes i. (1872) 3 Let us look..at the Hero as Divinity, the oldest primary form of Heroism. 1855H. Spencer Princ. Psychol. ii. xvi. 273 In the order of constructive thought, the sensation of muscular tension is primary, and that of pressure secondary.
2. Of the first or highest rank or importance; that claims the first consideration; principal, chief.
1565Bullinger Let. to Bps. 3 May in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. xlii. 428 We would do nothing..without the privity of you, the primary ministers. a1631Donne Serm. xxvii. (1640) 270, I meane of a primary necessity, of a necessity to be beleeved De fide. 1769Robertson Chas. V, vi. Wks. 1813 VI. 106 The primary object of almost all the monastic orders is to separate men from the world. 1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ii. (1872) Introd. 16 Every apostle, in his way, assigns to faith a primary importance. 1883H. Spencer in Contemp. Rev. XLIII. 11 The primary use of work is that of supplying the materials and aids to living completely.
3. Of the first order in any series, sequence, or process, esp. of derivation or causation: with various shades of meaning.
a. Not subordinate to or derived from something else; original; independent; often with the connotation Having something else derived from, or dependent on, it; fundamental, radical. (Cf. primitive a. 3.)
a1631Donne Serm. xi. (1640) 102 Their faith..was not the principle and primary cause of his mercy. 1656tr. Hobbes's Elem. Philos. (1839) 81 That order of speech which begins from primary or most universal propositions, which are manifest of themselves, and proceeds by a..composition of propositions into syllogisms. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. ii. §5 (1833) 43 The emotions produced..may..be termed secondary, being occasioned either by antecedent emotions or antecedent passions, which in that respect may be termed primary. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. xx. 309 Original, or primary conveyances..are those by means whereof the benefit or estate is created or first arises. 1789W. Buchan Dom. Med. xxv. (1790) 249 Sometimes it is a primary disease, and at other times only a symptom of some other malady. 1826Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 95/1 Words, in their origin, have a natural or primary sense. The accidental associations..afterwards give to that word a great number of secondary meanings. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. v. xxxiii. (1879) 190 The Sun..gives us the primary division of time into day and night. 1874Davidson Hebr. Gram. (1892) 3 The first line exhibits the three primary vowel sounds a i u. 1899Middleton & Chadwick Treat. Surveying I. v. 170 The methods..are not so complicated, or so minutely accurate, as those employed in dividing up a ‘grand’ or primary triangulation. 1920W. N. Thomas Surveying xiii. 382 On the Ordnance Survey the first framework of triangles set out over the country constituted the ‘Principal’ or ‘Primary’ triangulation. 1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics III. 571/2 For precision of definition, it is essential that there shall be one, and only one, material standard to represent each of the fundamental units. This is called the primary standard, and is preserved under the strictest conditions of custody, used only at very rare intervals, and then solely for purposes of comparison with the corresponding secondary standards. 1945R. A. Knox God & Atom iii. 41 St. Thomas..distinguished God as the Primary Cause from those secondary causes to which we attribute this or that effect in our daily experience, and taught that the influence of the Primary Cause was present everywhere, conspiring with the secondary cause to produce the effect. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. XIV. 441/1 In 1907, the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research adopted the value 6438·4696 A as the primary standard for the wavelength of red radiation from cadmium measured relative to the meter. 1973Nature 12 Jan. 146/3 The time interval between publication in a primary journal and the appearance of the corresponding abstract. 1973Sci. Amer. Dec. 65/2 The tangle that springs up where the forest has been felled is the first stage in the growth of a ‘substitute forest’. In more formal terms it is an early stage in the development of a ‘secondary forest’, which will replace the cleared ‘primary forest’. 1975J. B. Harley O.S. Maps ii. 18 A succession of local central meridians were as a result brought into use before the associated tertiary triangulations could be adjusted to the primary triangulation of Great Britain.
b. Not involving intermediate agency; direct, immediate, first-hand.
1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 193 We call them immortall..: first by reason of their essence, which is spirituall and originarie, or primarie from God the giuer of it. a1655Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 279 The schoolmen distinguish between the primary and per se effects..and these that are per accidens. 1831Brewster Nat. Magic ix. (1833) 222 The direct or primary echoes from each reflecting surface reach the ear in succession. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 211 When a substance yields uncombined and unaltered at the electrodes, those bodies which have been separated by the electric current, then the results may be considered as primary. 1901Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 3/3 Poverty, due to absolute deficiency of money income, is called ‘primary’, and comprises nearly ten per cent. of the population.
c. Belonging to the first in a series of successive divisions or branchings; constituting the main undivided body, or its first divisions or branches.
1804Abernethy Surg. Obs. 207 The large primary branches of the carotid artery. 1835Henslow Princ. Bot. i. i. iii. 63 The primary nerves branch off from it on either side, throughout its whole length. 1868Owen Vertebr. Anim. III. 119 The primary cerebral convolutions in the hoofed Mammals have a general disposition. 1877F. G. Heath Fern W. 21 In compound fronds..the mid-rib of the frond, is called the primary rachis.
d. Belonging to the first stage in a process of compounding or combination; constituting the ultimate or simpler constituents of which a more complex whole is made up; elementary.
1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 2 Compound bodies are of two kinds. Some of them are formed by the combination of two or more simple substances with each other... Others are formed by the combination of two or more compound bodies with each other... The first of these kinds of compounds I call Primary Compounds; to the second I give the name of Secondary Compounds. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 123 To ascertain the primary elements of the different vegetable principles, and the proportions in which they are combined. 1855Orr's Circ. Sc., Chem. 2 When two atoms of different kinds unite to form a third or compound atom,..they may be called elementary or primary atoms. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 100 He descends into the primary elements of human knowledge.
II. Special and technical senses.
4. Connected with sense 1.
a. Geol. Of the first or earliest formation; formerly applied to crystalline rocks, as having been formed before the appearance of life on the earth (= primitive a. 7); now, of or pertaining to the lowest series of strata, including all the sedimentary formations up to the Permian (= Palæozoic).
1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 192 Rocks are generally divided by geologists into two grand divisions, distinguished by the names of primary and secondary... The primary rocks are composed of pure crystalline matter, and contain no fragments of other rocks. 1829Bakewell in Glover's Hist. Derby I. 44 [Lehman] inferred that the lower rocks were formed prior to the creation of animals, and he gave them the name of primitive or primary, and distinguished the upper by the name of secondary. 1845J. Phillips in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 560/2 In England..gneiss and mica schist, and primary limestone, and quartz rocks, are almost unknown. 1854Brewster More Worlds iii. 44 The Primary formations consist of granite rocks, trap, syenite, and porphyry. 1871Lyell Student's Elem. Geol. viii. (1884) 105 Tabular view of the Fossiliferous Strata..Post-Tertiary..Tertiary or Cainozoic..Secondary or Mesozoic..Primary or Palæozoic [containing the formations] 19 Permian [to] 30 Lower Laurentian. Ibid. xxiii. 344 It has at length been made clear that the..Permian rocks are more connected with the Primary or Palæozoic than with the Secondary or Mesozoic strata.
b. Biol. Belonging to or directly derived from the first stage of development or growth, and (often) forming the foundation of the subsequent structure (cf. 3 a). Cf. primitive a. 8 a.
1848Carpenter Anim. Phys. 34 This membrane is termed the basement or primary membrane. 1854Owen Skel. & Teeth in Orr's Circ. Sc. I. Org. Nat. 165 In no system of the skeleton are bones a primary formation of the animal: they are the result of transmutations of pre-existing tissues. 1873Dawson Dawn of Life iv. (1875) 63 The original skeleton or primary cell-wall. 1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 78 Originally the whole mass consists of..a uniform tissue, out of which by diverse development of its layers these tissue-systems have their origin; this tissue..which is not yet differentiated may be termed..Primary Tissue. Ibid. 117 This tissue is termed Primary Meristem..because it presents the primary condition of the tissue, out of which the different forms of the permanent tissue are successively formed. 1885G. L. Goodale Physiol. Bot. (1892) 119 The primary cortex consists essentially of parenchyma in which isolated cells of a peculiar character may often be found. 1914M. Drummond tr. Haberlandt's Physiol. Plant Anat. i. 61 More often..it [sc. the middle lamella] also comprises the primary thickening layers. 1943Bot. Rev. IX. 125 Current concepts of the origin of primary vascular tissues..are much confused. Ibid. 129 ‘Procambium’ has come to mean specifically the vascular meristem from which primary xylem and phloem are derived. 1953K. Esau Plant Anat. iii. 39 The primary walls have primary pit fields. Ibid. iv. 77 If these cells [that give origin to the meristem] are the direct descendants of the embryonic cells..the meristems are called primary. 1971F. C. Ford-Robertson Terminol. Forest Sci. 41/1 The primary (cell) wall..is the wall of the meristematic cell modified during differentiation.
c. primary amputation (Surg.), amputation performed before inflammation supervenes.
1879St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 289 Primary amputation 2 inches below elbow. 1895Syd. Soc. Lex., Primary amputation, amputation performed within the first twenty-four hours after an accident, before inflammation has had time to supervene.
d. primary education, that which begins with the rudiments or elements of knowledge: used as an inclusive designation of that provided for the children liable to compulsory attendance; now formally applied in Great Britain to the education of children between the ages of five and eleven years; also primary instruction. primary school, one at which such instruction is given; so primary scholar. primary age, used attrib. of children receiving or ready to receive primary education; also ellipt. as primary.
1802Times 27 Apr., The Paris journals..are full of a plan, brought forward by Fourcroy, for the establishment of primary schools, which is not interesting to an English reader. 1828Webster, Primary... 3. Elemental; intended to teach youth the first rudiments; as, primary schools. 1861M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France 2 M. Magin, now Inspector-General of primary instruction, and formerly Rector of the Academy of Nancy. 1868Rogers Pol. Econ. xx. (1876) 264 The German emigrants.., most of whom are fairly possessed of primary education, are much more handy than those who come from states where equal care is not taken. 1877Huxley Physiogr. Pref. 6 The boys and girls who pass through an ordinary primary school. 1908A. Ruhl Other Americans x. 173 In the gymnasium four little primary girls were imitating..the gestures of the elocution teacher. 1944Act 7 & 8 Geo. VI c. 31 §8 It shall be the duty of every local education authority to secure that there shall be available for their area sufficient schools—(a) for providing primary education, that is to say, full-time education suitable to the requirements of junior pupils. Ibid. §7 The statutory system of public education shall be organised in three progressive stages to be known as primary education, secondary education, and further education. Ibid. §9 For the purpose of fulfilling their duties under this Act, a local education authority shall have power to establish primary and secondary schools. 1956H. M. Pollard Pioneers Popular Educ. 1760–1850 xxi. 265 Kay-Shuttleworth recommended that particular attention be paid to the large primary schools which had grown up..in The Hague [etc.]. 1958K. Lovell Educ. Psychol. & Children xvi. 198 The primary school child like the pre-school child has his fears and anxieties. 1963Barnard & Lauwerys Handbk. Brit. Educ. Terms 151 Primary education,..comprises full-time education suitable to the requirements of junior pupils (i.e. pupils under twelve). 1964Curtis & Boultwood Introd. Hist. Eng. Educ. (ed. 3) viii. 184 All normal children..may be transferred at the age of ‘eleven plus’ from the primary or preparatory school to one type or another of secondary school. 1964D. Holbrook Eng. for Rejected 54 How inefficient of the primary school to suppose that Joan has ‘no imagination’. 1972Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVI. 167 The first study cited presents highly similar results for black and white primary-age subjects. 1976Times 27 Apr. 14/7 It is impossible to generalize about English primary schools: some are progressive, informal, unauthoritarian, while others are strictly traditional. 1978Nagel's Encycl.-Guide: China 316 Primary Schools take children from 7 to 13. For these six years, they learn little more than Chinese and arithmetic.
e. primary assembly or primary meeting, a gathering at which a preliminary selection of candidates for election, or of delegates, is effected; spec. in U.S., a general meeting of the voters belonging to a party in an election district, for these purposes; so primary election, an election at a primary meeting; also primary caucus. See B. 6.
1792Ann. Reg. 1789 [214/2] The primary elections had for some days been carried on in the different districts of Paris. Ibid. [215/1] The inhabitants of every district in France, preparatory to the election of delegates, hold what is called a primary assembly, where they choose a prescribed number of electors who are to act for the whole in the choice of a representative. 1801Spirit of Farmers' Museum 61 The Editor of the Gazette of the United States..notices the ‘Primary Assemblies’ of our towns. 1821Massachusetts Spy 11 Apr. 3/3 This was all the hocus-pocus of a primary caucus. 1829Niles' Reg. XXXVI. 363/2 The battle is in reality fought in the primary meetings, and not on the day appointed by law for the election. 1833Alison Hist. Europe (1847) V. xviii. 117 The privilege of electing members for the legislature was taken away from the great body of the people, and confined to the colleges of delegates. Their meetings were called the Primary Assemblies. 1835C. P. Bradley Biogr. Isaac Hill 54 The freemen of the State were called upon to give at their primary elections, an expression of their opinion. a1850T. Ford Hist. Illinois (1854) 88 Personal politics..were carried from the primary elections into the legislature. 1885Century Mag. Apr. 825 Nine out of ten of our wealthy and educated men..are really ignorant of the nature of a caucus, or a primary meeting, and never attend either. 1905Westm. Gaz. 8 Nov. 1/3 All the party voters in a district assemble at a ‘primary’ meeting to vote for delegates to attend a ‘nominating convention’. The business of this nominating convention is to decide on the party candidates. 1961Atlanta Constitution 4 Nov. 1 An investigation of Atlanta's recent primary election produced ‘no evidence’ that any irregularities took place. 1974Hartsville (S. Carolina) Messenger 22 Apr. 6 a/1 This is the first time in the state's history that the Republican Party decided to nominate its candidates in a primary election, rather than by the convention method.
f. primary spermatocyte (Zool.), a spermatocyte which will undergo meiosis to yield further spermatocytes.
1896E. B. Wilson Cell iii. 122 The primary spermatocyte first divides to form two daughter-cells known as spermatocytes of the second order or sperm-mother-cells. Each of these divides again..to form two spermatids or sperm-cells. 1927Jrnl. Exper. Zool. XLIX. 463 The darkly colored pycnotic primary spermatocytes..are the most conspicuous cells in the germinal epithelium. 1960W. B. Crow Synopsis of Biol. viii. 40 In the grasshopper each primordial germ cell divides eight times producing 28 = 256 cells... The cells finally formed by such division are called primary spermatocytes; they undergo the reduction division.
g. primary endosperm nucleus (Bot.), the (usu. diploid) nucleus formed in an ovule by fusion of the two polar nuclei; also, the (usu. triploid) nucleus formed by fusion of a sperm nucleus with these nuclei.
1899Bot. Gaz. XXVII. 58 The polar nuclei may fuse to form the primary endosperm nucleus. 1950Robbins & Weier Bot. ix. 205/2 The nucleus resulting from this triple fusion is called the primary endosperm nucleus. 1960W. B. Crow Synopsis of Biol. viii. 42 The immotile male nuclei..are carried to the embryo-sac wherein one fertilizes the ovum... The other nucleus usually in angiosperms fuses with the primary endosperm nucleus, itself the product of fusion of two polar nuclei, so that triple fusion occurs, the triploid nucleus provided dividing up to form the nuclei of the endosperm. 1974G. W. Burns Plant Kingdom xx. 487/1 One sperm passes to the egg, uniting with it to form the zygote, and the other combines with the two polars, producing the primary endosperm nucleus.
h. Designating an earthquake P wave (see P III. 3).
[1912Nature 5 Sept. 4/2 The usual seismographic record shows three chief groups of disturbances, due respectively to the longitudinal and transverse waves through the core..and to the superficial waves round the crust. These..are complicated and supplemented by reflections of the deep waves at the surface, and sometimes by twin earthquakes caused by the primary.] 1919Proc. R. Soc. Edin. XXXIX. 161 Tables familiar to all seismologists, in which times of transit of the primary and secondary waves are expressed in terms of the arcual distances of the stations of observation from the..epicentre. 1955Sci. Amer. Sept. 56/3 In 1897 R. D. Oldham of England identified on seismograms three main types of seismic waves: (1) primary (P) waves, which are compression-and-expansion waves like those of sound; (2) secondary (S) waves, which vibrate at right angles to the direction of travel, as light waves do; (3) surface waves, which appear in the upper 20 miles or so near the earth's surface. 1968R. A. Lyttleton Mysteries Solar Syst. ii. 56 The velocity of the primary waves..is always essentially faster than that of the secondary waves.
i. primary road = main road s.v. main a. 8 b.
1956R. Braddon Nancy Wake xviii. 215 They had frequently to cross primary roads. 1974State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 27 Feb. 18-a/1 There are roads (even primary roads) which look impressive on a map but which fade away into mystery on the ground.
5. Connected with sense 2. primary feather, one of the large flight-feathers of a bird's wing, growing from the manus. † primary humours (obs.), the ‘cardinal humours’: see humour n. 2 b. primary wings (of an insect): see quot. 1826.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. i. ii. ii. 21 To maintaine those foure first primary Humors. 1803Med. Jrnl. IX. 556 We cannot admit..that the hypothesis of four primary humours..was already established in the writings of Hippocrates. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 374 External anatomy of insects... Alæ superiores vel primariæ (the upper or primary wings). 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. i. vii. (1852) 137 When these birds [Scissor-beaks] are fishing, the advantage of the long primary feathers..in keeping them dry, is very evident.
6. Connected with sense 3.
a. primary colours: see colour n. 2.
1612Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xxiii. 79 Blacke, white, and yealow according to Aristotle are the foure primary or principall colours. 1672Newton in Phil. Trans. VII. 5095 That Colour is Primary or Original, which cannot by any Art be changed, and whose Rays are alike refrangible. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art (ed. Webster) I. 248 The separation of the primary colours of light. 1848Wornum in Lect. Paint. 211 note, Although there are but three primitive colours, painters have nine. These are—yellow, red, blue, which are primary; orange, purple, green, which are secondary, being compounds of the primaries [etc.]. 1876Bernstein Five Senses 109 These three colours, red, green, and violet, are now received as primary colours, because they are the only three pure colours in the spectrum which, when combined, produce a nearly perfect white. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. iii. 178 The primary or simple, and the secondary or mixed colours.
b. primary qualities (in Philos.): see quots.
1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 181/1 In Sensibles, some are Primary, as qualities, colour, whiteness, others by accident, as white coloured, and that which is concrete, as fire. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. viii. §9 These I call original or primary Qualities of Body, which I think we may observe to produce simple Ideas in us, viz. Solidity, Extension, Figure, Motion, or Rest, and Number. 1810D. Stewart Philos. Ess. i. ii. ii. 95 The line which I would draw between primary and secondary qualities is this; that the former necessarily involve the notion of extension, and consequently of externality or outness; whereas the latter are only conceived as the unknown causes of known sensations. 1856Ferrier Inst. Metaph. v. v. (ed. 2) 148 It is through our perceptions, and not through our sensations, that we are made acquainted with the primary qualities of matter—that is with the extension, the figure, and the solidity of external objects.
c. primary planets, those planets which revolve directly around the sun as centre, as distinguished from the secondary planets or satellites, which revolve around primary ones. † See also quot. 1704.
1664[see planet n.1 2.]. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Primary Planets (according to some) are the Three Superior Planets, viz. Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars; but more properly a Primary Planet is one that moves round the Sun, as its Centre; whereas a Secondary Planet moves round some other Planet. 1816Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 339 The elliptical motions of the planets, both primary and secondary.
d. primary rainbow, the rainbow produced by the simplest series of refractions and reflexions; the inner and usually brighter when two are seen.
1793Sturges in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 1 In this shower two primary rainbows appeared. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 444 In the true or primary bow, the rays of light arrive at the spectator's eye after two refractions and one reflection. 1831Brewster Optics xxxii. 265 The primary or inner rainbow, which is commonly seen alone, is part of a circle whose radius is 41°.
e. Cryst. = primitive a. 5 b.
1823H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 75 These secondary molecules would consist of certain numbers of primary ones arranged in the same order as they would be in the production of the entire secondary crystals. 1851Richardson Geol. v. (1855) 85 We can invariably, by a careful dissection of the crystal, extract from it a nucleus which has constantly the same form in the same mineral species... Such a nucleus is called a primary form.
f. Chem. (i) Orig. applied to compounds regarded as being derived from any of four molecules (water, ammonia, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen, by replacement of one hydrogen atom by an organic radical. This sense survives in mod. use with respect to ammonia derivatives, spec. amides (but see quots. 1965), amines, and ammonium salts, and is extended to analogous derivatives of other elements, esp. phosphorus. [The sense is due to Gerhardt & Chiozza, who used F. primaire (Compt. Rend. (1853) XXXVII. 88).]
1854Q. Jrnl. Chem. Soc. VI. 195 The amides thus produced, which we shall call primary amides, represent a molecule of ammonia in which 1 atom of hydrogen is replaced by the negative radicals. 1888Bloxam Chem. (ed. 6) 586 The amides, like the amines..may be primary, secondary, or tertiary accordingly as one, two, or three atoms of H in the NH3 group has been replaced. 1889G. M'Gowan tr. Bernthsen's Text-bk. Org. Chem. 119 Just as amines are derived from ammonia, so from phosphuretted hydrogen, PH3, are derived primary, secondary, and tertiary phosphines by the exchange of hydrogen for alcoholic radicals. 1938G. H. Richter Textbk. Org. Chem. xiv. 230 The reduction of compounds that contain a > C = N{b1} linkage also produces primary amines. 1962Cotton & Wilkinson Adv. Inorg. Chem. xx. 392 The phosphines are less basic than amines of the same type, but for phosphines the order is tertiary > secondary > primary, whereas for amines it is commonly irregular but usually with primary > tertiary. 1965Nomencl. Org. Chem. (I.U.P.A.C.) C. 176 The generic name ‘amine’ is applied to compounds NH2R, NHR1R2, and NR1R2R3, which are called primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, respectively. Ibid. 188 Compounds containing one, two, or three acyl groups attached to nitrogen bear the generic name ‘amide’. When only one acyl group is attached to a nitrogen atom, the generic name ‘primary amide’ may be used; when two acyl groups are so attached, the generic name ‘secondary amide’ may be used; and when three acyl groups are so attached, the generic name ‘tertiary amide’ may be used. Ibid. 190 N-substituted primary amides R1{b1}CO{b1}NHR2 and R1{b1}CO{b1}NR2R3. [Note] These compounds have been called, respectively, secondary and tertiary amides, but this usage is not recommended.
(ii) Subsequently applied to organic compounds (except amines, etc.: see (i) above) in which the characteristic functional group is located on a saturated carbon atom which is itself bonded to not more than one other carbon atom. [Applied orig. to alcohols by H. Kolbe, who used G. primär (Ann. d. Chem. u. Pharm. (1864) CXXXII. 102).]
1864Chem. News 26 Nov. 260/1 Primary alcohol. 1888Morley & Muir Watts's Dict. Chem. (rev. ed.) I. 100/1 In the primary alcohols the carbon-atom joined to the hydroxyl is connected immediately with only one other carbon atom. 1929L. A. Coles Introd. Mod. Org. Chem. xii. 140 Methyl and ethyl alcohol are the two most important members of the primary alcohol series. 1968J. March Adv. Org. Chem. ix. 866 Primary alcohols or aldehydes can be converted directly to nitriles by air oxidation in the presence of ammonia, a strong base..and a copper complex.
(iii) Applied to a saturated carbon atom which is bonded to only one other carbon atom; also, bonded to or involving a primary carbon atom. Of an ion or a free radical: having (respectively) the electric charge or the unpaired electron located on a primary carbon atom.
1903Walker & Mott tr. Holleman's Text-bk. Org. Chem. I. 46 A carbon atom which is only linked to one other carbon atom is called primary. 1926H. G. Rule tr. J. Schmidt's Text-bk. Org. Chem. 70 When a carbon atom is combined in such a manner that only one of its four valencies is satisfied by carbon, it is termed a primary carbon atom. 1951I. L. Finar Org. Chem. iii. 31 A primary carbon atom is one that is joined to one other carbon atom. 1968J. March Adv. Org. Chem. ix. 866 Primary amines at a primary carbon can be dehydrogenated to nitriles. 1972DePuy & Chapman Molec. Reactions & Photochem. iv. 46, 2,2-Dimethylcyclohexanone..cleaves to give the tertiary alkyl radical rather than the primary alkyl radical. 1972Norman & Waddington Mod. Org. Chem. ix. 116 A tertiary carbonium ion is a relatively more stable species than a primary carbonium ion..and is formed much faster. 1972S. J. Weininger Contemp. Org. Chem. v. 106 The secondary ({b1}CH2{b1}) carbon-hydrogen bonds..of propane are more easily broken than the primary ({b1}CH3) carbon-hydrogen bonds of ethane.
g. Electr. (i) Orig. of an electric current: supplied directly by a cell or battery, as opposed to an induced current. Now, with reference to any device utilizing electromagnetic induction, esp. a transformer: of, pertaining to, or carrying the input electrical power.
1837M. Faraday in Ann. Electr., Magn., & Chem. I. 176 The conducting power of the connecting system A B D was sufficient to carry all the primary current. Ibid. 177 These experiments establishing..a distinction between the primary or generating current and the extra current, led me to conclude that the latter was identical with the induced current described..in the first series of these researches. 1862Electrician 21 Feb. 183/2 In the primary wire of the induction coil, the ‘return’ or ‘extra’ current is an effect which is equally objectionable. c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 253/2 When we employ the term primary to a wire, we mean that which conveys the current of electricity from the battery; and the secondary wire, is that in which a current is induced by its proximity to the primary one. 1893G. Kapp Dynamos xvii. 435 Such an apparatus is known as a transformer, the coil through which we send the alternating current being called the primary or driving coil. 1896F. Bedell Princ. Transformer i. 3 The primary electromotive force..is equal to the product of the number of primary turns, and the rate at which the magnetic flux in the magnetic circuit is changing. 1929A. T. Dover Electr. Traction (ed. 2) x. 281 The primary winding..has tappings to give 1000, 800, and 220 volts. 1938Kerchner & Corcoran Alternating-Current Circuits vii. 193 The primary current could thus be made to lead or lag the primary voltage by adjusting the degree of coupling between the two transformer windings. 1963Williams & Prigmore Electr. Engin. x. 333 In the open-circuit test..the rated voltage..is applied to the primary terminals of the transformer. 1971H. A. Romanowitz Introd. Electr. Circuits xxii. 491 When a transformer is used to deliver energy at a higher voltage than that at which it is received, the primary winding is the one with the small number of turns and the larger wire in its coils.
(ii) Of a cell or battery: in which the chemical reaction that generates the current is irreversible, and which therefore cannot store electrical energy applied to it.
1882Engineer 19 May 365/2 The distinction between a primary and a secondary battery is in no sense an important one when we are considering either as the producer of a current. 1886R. Wormell Electr. in Service of Man 427 The primary battery gives out a current of electricity, and the secondary acquires a condition which gives it also in turn the power of producing an electric current. 1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 59/2 Polarisation is one of the difficulties encountered in all primary cells. 1971H. A. Romanowitz Introd. Electr. Circuits ii. 36 The wet cells and dry cells just described, which are not rechargeable, are classified as primary cells.
h. Applied to the testes and ovaries as sexual characters essential to reproduction and determined directly by the genetic sex, without hormonal intervention; sometimes the sexual ducts and organs are included, as essential to reproduction though developing as a result of hormonal influence (these are otherwise classed as either accessory or secondary characters). Cf. secondary a.
1871Darwin Descent of Man I. viii. 253 With animals which have their sexes separated, the males necessarily differ from the females in their organs of reproduction; and these are the primary sexual characters. Ibid. 254 Unless..we confine the term ‘primary’ to the reproductive glands, it is scarcely possible to decide which ought to be called primary and which secondary. 1894H. Ellis Man & Woman ii. 18 When we are dealing with Man it is perhaps most convenient to set aside as primary the sexual glands..and the organs for emission and reception in immediate connection with these glands. 1926J. R. Baker Sex in Man & Animals ii. 26 The primary sexual characters are..the testes and ovaries. The accessory sexual characters are the obviously useful sex characters other than the testes and ovaries, such as the vas deferens..and the vagina... The secondary sexual characters are those which seem not to be directly concerned in reproduction, such as beards, antlers, and crests. 1948C. D. Turner Gen. Endocrinol. viii. 263 The primary sex characters are the gonads... Ducts and glands involved in the transmission of gametes or developing zygotes are known as the sex accessories. 1960B. I. Balinsky Human Embryol. xvi. 432 The primary sex characters distinguishing a male from a female animal are the sex glands—the testis and the ovary, respectively. By secondary sex characters are meant the distinctions between the sexes other than the presence of sex glands. These..fall into two groups: the organs which are essentially necessary for reproduction,..and organs or characters..such as the spurs and comb in the cock, the beard in man, [etc.]. 1977E. J. Trimmer et al. Visual Dict. Sex (1978) xxii. 262/1 A boy castrated before puberty will fail to develop the primary and secondary sexual characteristics of a normal male that would otherwise be stimulated by hormones produced by the testes.
i. Geol. Of a mineral: that is an original constituent of the rock. Of a rock: whose constituents have undergone no alteration since formation. Usu. applied spec. to minerals and rocks that have crystallized from magma.
1886J. Geikie Outl. Geol. xiii. 151 It is the primary or original constituents of a rock which ought to determine its species, but these are often replaced by secondary minerals, and thus it is not in all cases possible to say what were the primary minerals. 1905― Struct. & Field Geol. iii. 37 Those rock-constituents which crystallised out from the magma are termed primary or original, to distinguish them from another group of minerals which are of later origin than the rocks in which they occur. 1914J. Park Text-bk. Geol. xii. 191 A primary mineral or rock constituent is one that is developed during the cooling of the molten magma, or, in the case of sedimentary rock, that appeared among the original constituents. 1921Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. XXIV. 116 In some varieties..a titaniferous lime-iron garnet comes in, together with primary calcite. 1931A. Johannsen Descr. Petrogr. Igneous Rocks I. ii. 28 The primary minerals of the igneous rocks are comparatively few in number... The feldspars, the pyriboles, the micas, quartz, olivine, and the feldspathoids are practically all. 1966Read & Watson Beginning Geol. xii. 147/1 In this environment, the primary minerals..are no longer stable, and they give place to new minerals and fabrics more in harmony with the new conditions. 1971B. W. Sparks Rocks & Relief iv. 132 A relatively small class of primary calcareous rocks, known as carbonatites, are [sic] associated in some areas with alkaline igneous rocks.
j. Sociol. Esp. as primary group: a term for the sort of direct and informal relationships that an individual forms by reason of family or environmental associations which are considered basic to social life and culture (see esp. quots. 1933 and 1971).
1894Small & Vincent Introd. Study of Society iii. ii. 183 (heading) The primary social group: the family. 1909C. H. Cooley Social Organization iii. 23 By primary groups I mean those characterized by intimate face-to-face association and coöperation... They are primary.. chiefly in that they are fundamental in forming the social nature and ideals of the individual. 1933― et al. Introd. Sociol. iv. 55 If human nature belongs, then, to men in association what kind or degree of association is required to develop it?.. Are there simple forms of association..? It appears that there are, and we shall call them primary groups. Ibid., A primary group may be defined as a group of from two to possibly fifty or sixty people..who are in relatively face-to-face association for no single purpose, but merely as persons rather than as specialized functionaries. 1950E. A. Shils in Merton & Lazarsfeld Continuities in Social Res. 25 The primary group, they say, ‘served two principal functions in combat motivation: it set and emphasized group standards of behavior and it supported and sustained the individual in stresses he would not otherwise have been able to withstand.’ 1971Z. Barbu Society, Culture & Personality ii. 34 E. Farris rejects the criterion of face-to-face association and specifies that intimate relationships, together with group consciousness, esprit de corps, and the feeling of ‘we’ constitute the main characteristics of a primary group. On the other hand E. A. Shils considers primary groups as identical with what other writers call informal groups, i.e. more or less spontaneous gatherings based on some kind of mental affinity.
k. Physics and Astr. Of, pertaining to, or designating radiation that is not produced by other radiation but may itself produce other (secondary) radiation; of cosmic rays: originating outside the earth's atmosphere.
1900J. S. Townsend in Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. X. 218 The apparatus shown..was used to determine the relative intensities of the secondary radiations given out by different bodies, and the intensity of the secondary radiation compared with that of the primary radiation which excites it. 1921J. Scott-Taggart Thermionic Tubes i. 23 When the primary or original electron attains a velocity sufficiently high to break off electrons from the gas molecule, it will leave the latter positively charged. 1938R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) v. 61 The number of secondary electrons corresponding to each incident primary electron depends on the velocity of the primary electron. 1944Ann. Reg. 1943 361 Results which they regarded as..confirming that the main part of the primary cosmic ray radiation does not consist of electrons. 1946Electronic Engin. XVIII. 75/1 An electrode will emit primary electrons when its temperature is raised sufficiently to overcome the work function of the material of which it is made. 1959K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 5) vii. 15 Secondary emission may be obtained by electron bombardment of pure metals... In this case a part of the energy of the bombarding or primary electron is transferred to one or several conduction electrons of the solid. 1973Smith & Jacobs Introd. Astron. & Astrophysics xviii. 459 The fact that positrons..are only one-tenth as numerous indicates that these electrons are primary particles, and not secondaries like the light nuclei. This conclusion is based on the fact that more positrons than electrons are produced when primary cosmic rays collide with interstellar atoms.
l. primary poverty, lack of means to buy the basic necessities of life.
1901B. S. Rowntree Poverty p. viii, Families whose total earnings are insufficient to obtain the minimum necessaries... Poverty falling under this head I have described as ‘primary’ poverty. 1909M. F. Davies Life in Eng. Village ii. xii. 140 An estimate has been made of the minimum cost at which food, fuel, dress, household sundries, and house-room..can be obtained.. and it has then been seen how many families were below this standard, or in primary poverty. 1936R. C. K. Ensor England 1870–1914 xiv. 515 The number of people found by Rowntree in ‘primary’ poverty in 1901 was 15·46 per cent. of the wage-earning class in York. 1960Guardian 25 Feb. 3/6 Primary poverty was uncommon..although 130 fathers were out of work. 1964M. Laski in S. Nowell-Smith Edwardian England iv. 173 Primary poverty, that is to say,..conditions where the family income..is insufficient to maintain health and working efficiency.
m. primary succession (Ecol.) = prisere.
1905F. E. Clements Res. Methods Ecol. iv. 241 Primary successions..arise on newly formed soils, or upon surfaces exposed for the first time, which have in consequence never borne vegetation before. 1932Fuller & Conard tr. Braun-Blanquet's Plant Sociol. xiii. 235 The Anglo-American school distinguishes between primary successions or sequences of communities which originate independently of men and secondary successions. 1952P. W. Richards Trop. Rain Forest xii. 269 The successions or seres leading to the establishment of stable climax Rain forest are classified..into primary successions or priseres starting on soil not previously occupied by plants..and secondary successions or subseres. 1961Hanson & Churchill Plant Community v. 151 (caption) Primary succession on sand and gravel. 1973P. A. Colinvaux Introd. Ecol. vi. 77 The successions so far discussed are all primary successions, that is to say they are supposed to proceed by pioneering new sites.
n. primary industry, primary production, the husbandry or use of raw materials, as in agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, etc.; primary produce, primary products, the fruits of these activities; primary producer, one engaged in such industries; primary-producing adj., that produces or is the source of raw materials.
1930Economist 8 Feb. 290/1 Our exporting manufacturers will be faced with lessened purchasing power in the hands of primary producers overseas. 1935Ibid. 12 Jan. 57/2 Our own index of the dollar prices of primary products shows a rise of fully 20 per cent. 1941Baker N.Z. Slang v. 38 We were gaining [1880–1900] a footing in world markets for our primary produce. Ibid. vii. 60 [The] social and economic existence [of Australia and New Zealand] is largely dependent upon primary production—upon the soil. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Jan. 3/1 The basis of New Zealand's economic standards is the country's primary industries. There has been an inclination to overlook the fact that in the economic structure of New Zealand agriculture must always be the cornerstone. Ibid. Aug. 99/1 It has been a particularly interesting experience to attend in my capacity as Minister of Agriculture..and to see in action the machinery of the several bodies that administer the interests of different sections of primary producers. 1956T. Balogh in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. iv. 506 Political influence in primary-producing countries was secured by concluding bulk-buying agreements. 1959A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. 44 In common with other exporters of primary products, New Zealand representatives have, at international conferences, drawn attention to the serious effects produced by protective barriers established at unrealistically high levels. 1965S. T. Ollivier Petticoat Farm xi. 160 The primary produce from New Zealand went to feed other countries. 1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. iv. 85 In both Australia and New Zealand, a land naturally infertile by English standards has been made to yield products which have made the term ‘primary industry’ synonymous with farming, by the application of scientific agriculture. 1974M. B. Brown Econ. of Imperialism iv. 94 The extraction by the United States and by other developed countries of minerals and primary products from the whole world would not be regarded by classical economists as any sort of plunder. 1974Globe & Mail (Toronto) 12 Oct. 8/3, 37 per cent of Quebec's labor force is employed in primary industry (mining, forestry, etc.) and manufacturing. 1975Listener 11 Sept. 322/3 Indexing of the export prices of primary-producing countries against the rise in prices of the goods they need to import. 1976Oxford Times 12 Mar. 11/1 The role of a University Department of Agricultural Science is..to provide graduates who can..become leaders in the field of primary production. 1977Herald (Melbourne) 18 Jan. 4/1 On the talks so far, the Primary Industry Minister, Mr. Sinclair, probably sums up best by saying that he is ‘relatively happy’.
o. primary air, air admitted to the fuel in a furnace or burner at or before the earliest stage in its burning.
1931Engineering 9 Jan. 39/3 The primary air and coal enter at the side of the burner through a long, narrow port. 1932Discovery Aug. 248/1 The ‘primary air’ or ‘bottom air’ entering from beneath the fuel bed..meets the incandescent coke, and immediately the oxygen disappears and is converted into carbon dioxide. 1971E. R. Norster Combustion & Heat Transfer in Gas Turbine Syst. 91 The earlier Python engine had a ‘vaporizing’ tubular-type chamber, the fuel being pre-mixed with some primary air before being fed tangentially into a swirl chamber.
p. primary constriction (Cytology), a chromosomal constriction associated with the centromere.
1932C. D. Darlington Rec. Adv. Cytol. 495 Primary or attachment constriction, that always associated with the spindle attachment. 1937Ibid. (ed. 2) 575 Primary or centric constriction, that always associated with the centromere. 1957C. P. Swanson Cytol. & Cytogenetics v. 112 The localized centromere produces the primary constriction. 1969Brown & Bertke Textbk. Cytol. xviii. 344/1 This ‘constriction’ associated with the centromere is often loosely called the centromere, or kinetochore, but more exactly it is the primary constriction.
q. Ecol. Forming part of the lowest trophic level in a community, either as a producer or as a consumer that feeds on a producer; of or pertaining to a producer.
[1893W. K. Brooks in Mem. Biol. Lab. Johns Hopkins Univ. II. 148 A few forms are so predominant that..we may regard the great primary food-supply as made up of two simple protozoa, Globigerina and the Radiolarians, and some five or six unicellular plants.] 1934Q. Rev. Biol. IX. 163/1 In connection with..his phrase (‘primary food supply’) which I have undertaken to use, Brooks gives..a meaning somewhat more comprehensive than that which I prefer... It suits my purpose better to confine the usage to the microscopic plants equipped with chlorophyll and capable of manufacturing carbohydrates from raw materials. 1940Ibid. XV. 48/2 The various primary animals (phytophages) of a formation are often independent of each other. 1953E. P. Odum Fund. Ecol. iv. 82 In speaking of productivity, it is important to distinguish between the basic or primary productivity..and consumer or secondary productivity. 1956Limnology & Oceanogr. I. 116/1 The diagram shows how some streams may be fertile in having high total respiratory metabolism and yet possess little primary productivity. 1969B. K. Sladen in Sladen & Bang Biol. of Populations vii. 92 The knapweed plants were the producers, and nine animal species were primary consumers eating the knapweed plant. Ibid. 93 The productivity of the producers, the photosynthetic plants, must be greater than that of the primary consumers. 1971M. Alexander Microbial Ecol. xvi. 410 Aquatic algae are typically primary organisms in that their energy is obtained from sunlight. 1976S. B. Chapman in Methods in Plant Ecol. iv. 161 Primary production is the production of organic matter by photosynthesis. Ibid., Gross primary production, the total amount of organic matter produced (including that lost in respiration) over a given period of time. Ibid., Net primary production, the amount of organic matter incorporated by a plant or an area of vegetation (gross primary production minus the loss due to respiration) over a given period of time.
r. Psychol. Relating to abilities or traits which, through factor analysis, appear basic to other aspects of intelligence or personality.
1938L. L. Thurstone Primary Mental Abilities p. vi, These subsequent studies have had the advantage of some orientation about the first seven primary factors as landmarks... It is probably better to find the principal landmarks in the cognitive and conative primary traits by means of group procedures. Ibid. vi. 92 The tests will be improved by making them relatively pure measures of the primary abilities. 1958K. Lovell Educ. Psychol. & Children iii. 58 Thurstone has termed these primary mental abilities and claims that they are found both in very young children and in adults. 1965R. B. Cattell Sci. Analysis of Personality iii. 60 Several ‘primary abilities’ were also involved, such as numerical, spatial, verbal, and logical abilities. 1969H. J. & S. B. Eysenck Personality Struct. & Measurement 328 We have seen that while primary factors emerge in considerable profusion, these seldom if ever agree precisely with those postulated by Cattell and Guilford. 1970L. J. Bischof Interpreting Personality Theories (ed. 2) vi. xii. 464 In his current work, Cattell calls the source traits Primary Personality Factors. With few exceptions, the Primary Personality Factors are bipolar or dichotomized. 1972Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVI. 187 Disputes about the number and nature of primary personality factors in questionnaire data are still rife.
s. primary structure (Aeronaut.), those parts of an aircraft whose failure would seriously endanger safety.
1939Aircraft Engin. Feb. 66/1 The primary structure of the main plane is erected in a wall jig. 1959F. D. Adams Aeronaut. Dict. 132/1 Elements not a part of the primary structure include cowlings, fairings, windshields, etc. 1964J. E. D. Williams Operation of Airliners ix. 133 To ensure that throughout the operational life of the aircraft the possibility of disastrous fatigue failure is remote, the primary structure must either have an extremely long probable life or be designed to fail safely.
t. Of radar: transmitting radiation for targets to reflect, not requiring any generation of signals by targets.
1945R. Watson-Watt in Nature 15 Sept. 323/2 Primary radar is that form of radar which ‘does not require the co-operation of the object to be located’. 1960T. J. Morgan Radar xii. 137 The measurement of the wind direction and velocity was carried out by means of direction finding stations, then later by primary radar. 1963R. S. H. Boulding Princ. & Pract. Radar (ed. 7) xxii. 470 In secondary radar as distinct from normal (or primary) radar, the target plays an active part in the operation of ranging and position finding.
u. primary stress, the principal stress in a word (see stress n. 9). Also attrib. So primary-stressed adj., (of a word or syllable) carrying a primary stress.
1951Trager & Smith Outl. Eng. Struct. i. 36 There must be a stress phoneme whose characteristic is maximum normal loudness, which we may call primary stress. 1964G. L. Trager in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 267 When a clause begins with the primary-stressed syllabic, there are only two pitches. 1968Chomsky & Halle Sound Pattern Eng. 34 We note that primary stress falls on the prefix if the stem is monosyllabic. Ibid. 114 The other..vowels..have never received primary stress at any stage of their derivation. 1971Eng. Stud. LII. 349 From recorded readings we know that the unnatural stress-patterns which result can be emended by a prolongation of the first of two primary-stressed syllables. 1972Language XLVIII. 328 In simple declarative sentences ending in a predicate, primary stress is often most naturally placed on the subject. Ibid. 331 Surface structure alone is insufficient to determine primary-stress placement.
v. primary structure (Biochem.), the sequence of amino-acids forming the chain structure of a protein or polypeptide, as opposed to the three-dimensional configuration and arrangement of the chains.
1952K. U. Linderstrøm-Lang Proteins & Enzymes 58 The presence of intrahelix as well as interhelix bonds may justify a classification into secondary (intrahelix) and tertiary (interhelix) structures, as distinct from the primary structure of the simple β-chain. 1964G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. iii. 48 The peptide chains coil up, and fold back on themselves, to form a complex three-dimensional molecular structure, and..the determination of sequence, or primary structure, is only the beginning of a description of the protein molecule. 1970R. W. McGilvery Biochem. viii. 150 Any disruption of protein structure that does not involve the primary structure ought to be self-healing once the cause of the disruption is removed. 1974Nature 29 Nov. 351/2 Let us now discuss the effect of natural selection on secondary or tertiary structure, as natural selection acts through these higher order structures and not on primary structure.
B. n. [elliptical use of adj. Mostly in pl.]
1. That which (or one who) is first in order, rank, or importance; anything from which something else arises or is derived. Usually pl. = primary things or ones; first principles.
1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 52 Where any secondary agents attempt to defeat the power of their primaries. 1846G. S. Faber Lett. Tractar. Secess. 248 Though there may be occasional disagreement in subordinates, there is a very singular and a very striking agreement in primaries. 1856Dove Logic Chr. Faith Introd. §5. 13 Every science..begins with primaries or with ultimates.
2. Short for primary planet: see planet n.1 2.
a1721J. Keill Maupertuis' Diss. (1734) 33 We see that the Sun attracting the Planets, is the Cause why they move round him, as the attraction of the Primaries confines their Secondaries. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. iii. x. (1879) 58 The only satellite which takes a longer time to revolve round its primary than our Moon, is Iapetus, the eighth satellite of Saturn.
3. A primary feather: see A. 5. Usually in pl.
1776Pennant Zool. II. 441 Primaries and tail black. 1834R. Mudie Feathered Tribes Brit. Isles (1841) I. 9 The primaries or principal quills. 1883Martin & Moale Vertebr. Dissect. ii. 99 The primaries are ten in number and are inserted upon the manus.
4. Short for primary colour: see A. 6.
1848[see A. 6]. 1884A. F. Oakey in Harper's Mag. Mar. 586/2 The eye supplies the absent primary, blue. 1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage i. 14 If the three primaries are placed on a white background the reverse will happen. 1972House & Garden Feb. 70/2 The most successful rooms are those using vivid primaries. 1979Guardian 13 June 12/5 Cellular cotton shirts come in all pastels and primaries.
5. Electr. Short for primary coil or wire: see A. 6 g. Also, a primary circuit, current, etc.
1837M. Faraday in Ann. Electr., Magn., & Chem. I. 200 The renitency encountered in the conductors will necessarily exercise a due influence in lessening the force of secondary currents, but cannot be made available as a cause of the comparative atony which these currents, by the initial impulses of the primary, invariably display. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 490 The coil of thick wire is called the primary. 1869Eng. Mech. 17 Dec. 335/2 The core and primary are enclosed in an ebonite cylinder. 1896F. Bedell Princ. Transformer i. 2 The alternating current transformer..consists simply of two independent circuits, a primary and a secondary, wound independently upon a common core of laminated soft iron. 1931B. Brown Talking Pictures iii. 36 Modulation of the voltage is accomplished through a transformer, the primary of which is supplied with the speech recording curent coming from the microphone, via the amplifiers. 1938Kerchner & Corcoran Alternating-Current Circuits vii. 182 Circuit 1, energized by means of an alternating potential difference, is called the primary. 1967M. F. Buchan Electr. Supply vi. 156 Consider now what happens if the secondaries are connected in delta, whilst the primaries are star-connected to a 3-wire supply.
6. Short for primary meeting or assembly, a caucus: see A. 4 e; now usu. = primary election, one at which candidates for political office in the U.S.A. are chosen. U.S.
a1861T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 147 ‘Boys,’ said he,..‘when I accepted the office of Orator of the Day at our primary and promised to bring forward our resolutions in honor of Mr. Wade.’ 1868All Year Round 19 Sept. 351/2 He is ‘powerful’ in ‘primaries’, where he votes early and often for his favourite candidates. 1880E. Kirke Garfield 31 The clergy..and many of the leading business men..never attend the township caucus, the city primaries, or the county convention. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lx. 421 If the district is not subdivided, i.e. does not contain any lesser districts, its meeting is called a primary. A primary has two duties. One is to select the candidates for its own local district offices... The other duty is to elect delegates to the nominating meetings of larger areas. 1896Harper's Mag. XCIII. 147/2 He knew the primaries and the value of pulls and colonizations. 1900B. C. Clark in Mod. Eloquence X. p. xvii, Those of you who remember as I do the times that tried men's souls will not, I hope, forget their humble servant when the primaries shall be held. 1908Contemp. Rev. Apr. 404 Other Western States have passed similar laws for direct primaries. 1930Economist 7 June 1267/1 They have nominated Mr. Franklin Fort, a ‘dry’ Congressman, as his opponent in the Republican ‘primaries’. 1966Listener 25 Aug. 289/3 He could be freed from this bondage either by a system of primaries in which the field of choice were extended to others beyond the narrow range of committed party workers or through the introduction of the alternative vote. 1967Boston Herald 1 Apr. 1/1 George C. Wallace, Jr., said Friday that he was thinking of entering the New Hampshire presidential preferential primary next March 12. 1976Times 26 Feb. 15/2 Sitting Presidents need to do far more than escape disaster in the primaries, which are popularity contests among their own party's voters.
7. Short for primary scholar: see A. 4 d.
1908Robins Come & Find Me 36 ‘Serves her right’ said Primarys, Academics and Collegiates all with one voice.
8. Physics and Astr. A primary ray or particle, esp. a primary cosmic ray.
1923Physical Rev. XXII. 243 The emission is comprised in part of electrons whose speeds are not appreciably less than that of the primaries. 1932Ibid. XLI. 545 The average number of secondaries per primary is about 100 in iron and 230 in lead. 1942J. D. Stranathan ‘Particles’ of Mod. Physics xii. 488 Many of the primaries and many of the large number of secondaries formed high in the atmosphere are unable to penetrate the entire atmosphere. 1956Spaceflight Oct. 27/1 The charged cosmic ray primaries..consist of approximately 80 per cent. protons, 18 or 19 per cent. alpha particles, and the remainder heavier nuclei. 1959K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 5) vii. 15 If all the energy brought into the body by the bombarding primary could be transformed into the energy required for the emission of secondary electrons, the ratio δ would be very high. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 203/1 The discovery in meteoritic crystals of particle tracks produced by primaries heavier than iron.
9. Gram. In Jespersen's terminology, a word or group of words (normally a noun or a noun-phrase) of primary importance in a phrase or sentence. Cf. adjunct n. 5 b, subjunct.
1924O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. vii. 97 We may, of course, have two or more coordinate adjuncts to the same primary: thus, in a nice young lady, the words a, nice, and young equally define lady. 1928― Internat. Lang. ii. 97 When adjectives are made into primaries, we have the endings already considered. 1928Mod. Lang. Rev. XXIII. 143 After a chapter on clauses as ‘primaries’, about 150 pages are devoted to a thorough survey of relative clauses. 1935[see noun-equivalent]. 1940Eng. Stud. XXII. 88 Primary, secondary and tertiary, intended to connote..headwords, attributes and adjuncts, the terms representing their relative importance or ranks within the sentence, headwords coming first. 1959M. Schlauch Eng. Lang. in Mod. Times viii. 221 In this system [of Otto Jespersen's] a leading term, for instance a noun subject, is a primary.
▸ Med. Designating or relating to health care provided in the community, esp. by the staff of a general practice, for routine patient care and for those making an initial approach for medical advice or treatment. Freq. in primary care. Cf. secondary adj.
1920Times 24 May 10/3 The establishment of what have been called primary health centres throughout every country. 1967New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 19 Oct. 848/1 Primary medical care..refers to first-contact care. 1967New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 19 Oct. 848/1 Primary care does not have to be provided by physicians, but it should probably be supervised and monitored by them. 1999G. Cannon in G. Tansey & J. D'Silva Meat Business xi. 115 The economic benefits of primary health care, including prevention and screening for cancer. |