''prim'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''prim'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260211112127-00-⌔

prim - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

prim (comparative primmer, superlative primmest)

• Of a person, their manner or appearance: Formal and precise; stiffly decorous.
  • ✤ Philemon was in great Surprize,⁠
    And hardly could believe his Eyes,
    Amaz’d to ſee her look ſo prim;
    And ſhe admir’d as much at him.¹
  • ✤ God damn it, what does she want of me, this sad, beautiful bridgeplayer of the Fifth Floor, with her air of lost love and her prim carnality?²
  • ✤ And although Paul shares an apartment with his prim wife, aptly named Prudence, they rarely see or speak to each other.³
• (by extension) Of a person: Prudish; straight-laced.
• Of things: Neat; trim.
  • ✤ * prim regularity*

Verb

prim (third-person singular simple present prims, present participle primming, simple past and past participle primmed) (dated or archaic)

• (intransitive) To make one’s expression prim. [with up]
• (transitive) To give a prim or demure expression to (one’s face, mouth, or (rare) lips).
• (transitive) To dress (one) up affectedly or demurely. [withup or out]

Noun

prim (plural prims)

• (obsolete) A prim person.

Noun

prim

• (botany) privet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɹɪm/, [pʰɹ̠̊ɪm]
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɪm

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin.

In the verb sense, first appeared in Thomas D’Urfey’s A Fool’s Preferment in the year 1688.

In the noun sense, first appeared in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew in the year 1699, meaning “prig.” Now obsolete.

In the adjective sense, first appeared in Sir Richard Steele’s The Funeral in the year 1702, meaning “consciously or affectedly strict or precise; stiffly formal and respectable.”

Oxford English Dictionary proposed a relation with primp and prink. Chiefly Scottish and U.S.

Etymology 2

Unknown; see privet.

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1708, [Jonathan Swift], “The Metamorphosis of Baucis and Philemon, Burlesqu’d; from the 8th Book of Ovid”, in Baucis and Philemon; a Poem. […], London: […] H. Hills, […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 8: ↩

2. 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy: ↩

3. 2024 October 24, Judith Shulevitz, “Michel Houellebecq Has Some Fresh Predictions. Be Afraid.”, in The Atlantic ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

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