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ne of the two bodies or nuclei (called male and female pronuclei) which unite to form the first segmentation nucleus of an impregnated ovum.

An internal dorsal chitinous process between the first two divisions of the thorax of insects.

The act of pledging, or drinking first, and then offering the cup to another. [Obs.] Abp. Potter.

o pledge; to offer as a toast or a health in the manner of drinking, that is, by drinking first and passing the cup. [Obs.] The lovely sorceress mixed, and to the prince Health, peace, and joy propined. C. Smart.

orless liquid having a sharp, pungent odor. Propionic acid is so called because it is the first or lowest member of the fatty acid series whose salts have a fatty feel.

ially of geometrical ratios; or a relation among quantities such that the quotient of the first divided by the second is equal to that of the third divided by the fourth; -- called also geometrical proportion, in distinction from arithmetical proportion, or that in which the difference of the first and second is equal…

An impelling act or movement. God works in all things; all obey His first propulsion. Whittier.

The first part of a drama, of a poem, or the like; the introduction; opposed to epitasis. B. Jonson.

The first or anterior segment of the thorax in insects. See Illusts. of Butterfly and Coleoptera.

A combining form prefix signifying first, primary, primordial; as, protomartyr, the first martyr; protomorphic, primitive in form; protoplast, a primordial organism; prototype, protozoan.

Of or pertaining to the first canon, or that which contains the authorized collection of the books of Scripture; -- opposed to deutero-canonical.

Having a caudal fin extending around the end of the vertebral column, like that which is first formed in the embryo of fishes; diphycercal.

To make or write protocols, or first draughts; to issue protocols. Carlyle.

The embryonic shell, or first chamber, of ammonites and other cephalopods.

The first martyr; the first who suffers, or is sacrificed, in any cause; -- applied esp. to Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

Of or pertaining to the first formation of living bodies.

The thing first formed; that of which there are subsequent copies or reproductions; the original.

First-formed. Howell.

One of the clergy of first rank in the lower order of secular clergy; an archpriest; -- called also protopapas.

One of the primary, or first-formed, segments of an embryonic arthropod.