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Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest; as, the first day of a month; the first year of a reign.

Of the best class; of the highest rank; in the first division; of the best quality; first-rate; as, a first-class telescope. First- class car or First-class railway carriage, any passenger car of the highest regular class, and intended for passengers who pay the highest regular rate; -- distinguished from a second-clas…

Obtained directly from the first or original source; hence, without the intervention of an agent. One sphere there is . . . where the apprehension of him is first-hand and direct; and that is the sphere of our own mind. J. Martineau.

Of the highest excellence; preëminent in quality, size, or estimation. Our only first-rate body of contemporary poetry is the German. M. Arnold. Hermocrates . . . a man of first-rate ability. Jowett (Thucyd).

First brought forth; first in the order of nativity; eldest; hence, most excellent; most distinguished or exalted.

The first produce or offspring; -- said of animals, especially domestic animals; as, the firstlings of his flock. Milton.

In the first place; before anything else; -- sometimes improperly used for first.

A degree of the first class both in classics and mathematics.

With the head foremost.

The first letter of the English and of many other alphabets. The capital A of the alphabets of Middle and Western Europe, as also the small letter (a), besides the forms in Italic, black letter, etc., are all descended from the old Latin A, which was borrowed from the Greek Alpha, of the same form; and this was made fr…

The first three letters of the alphabet, used for the whole alphabet.

A priori, that is, form these necessities of the mind or forms of thinking, which, though first revealed to us by experience, must yet have preëxisted in order to make experience possible. Coleridge.

Pertaining to Aaron, the first high priest of the Jews.

A primer; the first principle or rudiment of anything. [R.] Fuller.

ial alienation of reason. "Occasional aberrations of intellect." Lingard. Whims, which at first are the aberrations of a single brain, pass with heat into epidemic form. I. Taylor.

The first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, corresponding nearly to our April. After the Babylonish captivity this month was called Nisan. Kitto.

to adhere; to maintain. The poor fellow was obstinate enough to abide by what he said at first. Fielding.

First; original; indigenous; primitive; native; as, the aboriginal tribes of America. "Mantled o'er with aboriginal turf." Wordsworth.

An onset, attack, or fit of disease. The first access looked like an apoplexy. Burnet.

To speak to first; to address; to greet. "Him, Satan thus accosts." Milton.