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A Mexican shrub (Euphorbia pulcherrima) with very large and conspicuous vermilion bracts below the yellowish flowers.

One primarily devoted to his own advancement in public office, or to the success of a political party; -- used in a depreciatory sense; one addicted or attached to politics as managed by parties (see Politics, 2); a schemer; an intriguer; as, a mere politician. Like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou dost…

Primarily, liberty of converse; intercourse; hence, a certificate, given after compliance with quarantine regulations, permitting a ship to land passengers and crew; -- a term used particularly in the south of Europe.

A system of voting, as at primaries, in which the voters are allowed to indicate on their ballots their preference (usually their first and second choices) between two or more candidates for an office, so that if no candidate receives a majority of first choices the one receiving the greatest number of first and second…

First in order of time; original; primeval; primitive; primary. "Prime forests." Tennyson. She was not the prime cause, but I myself. Milton.

At first; primarily. [Obs.] South.

First; original; primary. [Obs.] "The primer English kings." Drayton. Primer fine (O. Eng. Law), a fine due to the king on the writ or commencement of a suit by fine. Blackstone. -- Primer seizin (Feudal Law), the right of the king, when a tenant in capite died seized of a knight's fee, to receive of the heir, if of f…

Belonging to the first ages; pristine; original; primitive; primary; as, the primeval innocence of man. "This is the forest primeval." Longfellow. From chaos, and primeval darkness, came Light. Keats.

First born, or first of all; original; primary. See Primogenial.

Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive verb in grammar. Primitive axes of coördinate (Geom.), that system of axes to which the points of a magnitude are first referred, with reference to a second set or system, to which they are afterward referred. -- Primitive chord (Mus.), that chord, the lowest note…

Primarily; not derivatively.

First born, made, or generated; original; primary; elemental; as, primogenial light. Glanvill.

First in order; primary; original; of earliest origin; as, primordial condition. "The primordial facts of our intelligent nature." Sir W. Hamilton.

In a principal manner; primarily; above all; chiefly; mainly.

Analysis into primary or elemental parts. [Archaic] Bacon.

olors (Opt.), the seven colors into which light is resolved when passed through a prism; primary colors. See Primary colors, under Color. -- Prismatic compass (Surv.), a compass having a prism for viewing a distant object and the compass card at the same time. -- Prismatic spectrum (Opt.), the spectrum produced by th…

The primary growth from the spore in certain cryptogamous plants; as, the proembryo, or protonema, of mosses.

e platform adopted. Among the chief articles in the platform are those demanding direct primaries, preferential primaries for presidential nominations, direct election of United States senators, women's suffrage, and recall of judicial decisions in certain cases.

The act of falling down, or of bowing in humility or adoration; primarily, the act of falling on the face, but usually applied to kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship. A greater prostration of reason than of body. Shak.

tion of boiling dilute acids on proteids. Proteoses are divided into the two groups, the primary and secondary proteoses.