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First in order of time or development or in intention; primitive; fundamental; original. The church of Christ, in its primary institution. Bp. Pearson. These I call original, or primary, qualities of body. Locke.

Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative. Moore (Encyc. of Music). -- Primitive circle (Spherical Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane. -- Primitive colors (Paint.), p…

A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous. Specifically:

First principles; fundamental beginnings; elements; as. Newton's Principia.

A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.

r, to the foundation to the ultimate sources to the principles, or the like: original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party. The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence. Burke.

In a radical manner; at, or from, the origin or root; fundamentally; as, a scheme or system radically wrong or defective.

A number or quantity which is arbitrarily made the fundamental number of any system; a base. Thus, 10 is the radix, or base, of the common system of logarithms, and also of the decimal system of numeration.

Necessarily assumed by the mind as fundamental to all other knowledge; furnishing fundamental principles; as, the regulative principles, or principles a priori; the regulative faculty. Sir W. Hamilton.

To cause to rehearse; to instruct by rehearsal. [R.] He has been rehearsed by Madame Defarge as to his having seen her. Dickens.

To turn back; to cause to face in a contrary direction; to cause to depart. And that old dame said many an idle verse, Out of her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse. Spenser.

A fundamental change in political organization, or in a government or constitution; the overthrow or renunciation of one government, and the substitution of another, by the governed. The violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of the maladministration which has produced them. Macaulay.…

Damewort.

To smile in a silly, affected, or conceited manner. Behold yond simpering dame. Shak. With a made countenance about her mouth, between simpering and smiling. ir. P. Sidney.

A woman who is closely allied to, or assocciated with, another person, as in the sdame faith, society, order, or community. James ii. 15.

h the sounding tube is lengthened and shortened so as to produce the tones between the fundamental and its harmonics.

e angle subtended at the sun by the semidiameter of the earth. It is 8."80, and is the fundamental datum.

A fixed point or station; a basis or fundamental principle; a position from which objects or principles are viewed, and according to which they are compared and judged.

The fundamental material of which anything is made up; elemental part; essence. Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience To do no contrived murder. Shak.

The deepest pedal stop, or the lowest tones of an organ; the fundamental or ground bass. [Written also sub-base.] Ayliffe.