Search the Dictionary

is receiving rudimentary instruction in the doctrines of Christianity; a neophyte; in the primitive church, one officially recognized as a Christian, and admitted to instruction preliminary to admission to full membership in the church.

to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding measures of party policy; a political primary meeting. This day learned that the caucus club meets, at certain times, in the garret of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regiment. John Adams's Diary [Feb. , 1763].

Judicial or ecclesiastical sentence or reprimand; condemnatory judgment. Excommunication or other censure of the church. Bp. Burnet.

which they may be checked. -- Check nut (Mech.), a secondary nut, screwing down upon the primary nut to secure it. Knight. -- Check valve (Mech.), a valve in the feed pipe of a boiler to prevent the return of the feed water. -- To take check, to take offense. [Obs.] Dryden.

One who cheers; one who, or that which, gladdens. "Thou cheerer of our days." Wotton. "Prime cheerer, light." Thomson.

relating to the underworld gods of the Greeks, whose worship is widely considered as more primitive in form than that of the Olympian gods. The characteristics of chthonian worship are propitiatory and magical rites and generalized or euphemistic names of the deities, which are supposed to have been primarily ghosts.…

A native or natives of Ceylon descended from its primitive inhabitants; also (sing.),

A priming of size mixed with whiting or white lead, used in house painting, etc.; also, a size upon which gold leaf is applied in gilding.

es barefoot; and the middle sort . . . makes use of wooden clogs. Harvey. Clog almanac, a primitive kind of almanac or calendar, formerly used in England, made by cutting notches and figures on the four edges of a clog, or square piece of wood, brass, or bone; -- called also a Runic staff, from the Runic characters use…

d with the topographic and hydrographic survey of the coast and the execution of belts of primary triangulation and lines of precise leveling in the interior. It now belongs to the Department of Commerce and Labor.

ommunity which permits promiscuous sexual intercourse among its members; -- as in certain primitive tribes or communistic societies. [Written also cenogamy.]

One who colors; an artist who excels in the use of colors; one to whom coloring is of prime importance. Titian, Paul Veronese, Van Dyck, and the rest of the good colorists. Dryden.

To partake of the Lord's supper; to commune. The primitive Christians communicated every day. Jer. Taylor.

or diseases, or adventitious circumstances or conditions, coexistent with and modifying a primary disease, but not necessarily connected with it.

ber (Math.), one which can be divided exactly by a number exceeding unity, as 6 by 2 or 3.prime number. -- Composite photograph or portrait, one made by a combination, or blending, of several distinct photographs. F. Galton. -- Composite sailing (Naut.), a combination of parallel and great circle sailing. -- Composi…

me more general and abstract conception than that of the visible operation which the word primarily signifies. Whewell.

Same as Leader. Prime conductor (Elec.), the largest conductor of an electrical machine, serving to collect, accumulate, or retain the electricity.

Primarily, a place of standing or staying together; hence, any solemn assembly or council. To council summons all his mighty peers, Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved, A gloomy consistory. Milton.

olated from modifying influences that in many respects it is the most ancient monument of primitive Christian rites and ceremonies. But centuries of subjection to Moslem rule have weakened and degraded it.

To surround and inclose; to coop up; to put into an inclosed space; -- primarily used with reference to securing horses and cattle in an inclosure of wagons while traversing the plains, but in the Southwestern United States now colloquially applied to the capturing, securing, or penning of anything. Bartlett.…