† primn.1
Obsolete.
An attractive woman, esp. a young one; (in early use also) a lover, a paramour.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > one who is loved or a sweetheart
copenerc897
lovec1225
lemanc1275
sweetinga1300
druery13..
doceamurc1320
paramoura1375
honeybirdc1390
honey-sweetc1440
dowsec1450
heart-rootc1460
prim1509
joa1529
sweetheart1576
love-mate1582
belamour1590
copemate1593
frister1639
sprunny1739
Liebling1868
Liebchen1876
angel pie1878
loved one1879
cariad1899
square piece1925
sheikha1926
sweetie-pie1928
oppo1932
poopsie1937
mi'jita1970
squeeze1980
boo1988
bae2006
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [noun] > prettiness > specifically of woman > pretty girl or woman
primerolea1350
jolyvet1413
prim1509
nicebeceturc1520
bit of stuff?1553
nicebice1595
dabchick1612
rosebud1668
doll1778
living doll1785
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
a bit (also piece) of all right1895
bit of fluff1903
dolly1906
baby doll1908
cutiea1911
cutie-pie1920
kewpie1946
tchotchke1968
tchotchkeleh1985
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. ciiii Than muste he haue another prymme or twayne.
1514 A. Barclay Cytezen & Uplondyshman (1847) 2 Aboute all London there was no propre prym But long tyme had ben famylyer with hym.
?1515 Hyckescorner (de Worde) sig. C.iv I wolde that hell were full of suche prymmes Than wolde I renne thyder on my pynnes.
1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere vi. p. ccxliii Some olde husbandes wolde lerne to let his olde wyfe lye, and take colde in a bedde alone, and hym self take a yonge prety prym to bed to kepe his bakke warme for physyke.
1573 G. Harvey Schollers Loove in Let.-bk. (1884) 102 So pretty a prim of every limme.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II Prim,..a neat pretty girl. Yorksh.
1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 70 Prim, a handsome woman.
1881 A. Trumble Slang Dict. N.Y., London & Paris 28/1 Prim, a handsome woman.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
primn.2
/prɪm/, U.S. /prɪm/ Now English regional and U.S.
Privet (genus Ligustrum). Cf. primp n., primprint n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > cultivated or ornamental trees and shrubs > [noun] > hedge plants > privet
primpc1400
ligustre1480
privet1542
primprint1548
prim1573
ligustrum1664
English myrtle1816
wax-tree1825
Japan privet1869
swamp privet1884
primet-
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 13v Set priuie or prim, set box like him.
1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie 38 How her watchmen, arm'd with boughie crest, A wall of prim hid in his bushes bears.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole 445 Ligustrum—Primme or Priuet.
1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 90 We have a Prim or Privet, which grows on the dry, barren, sandy Hills, by the Sound side.
1770 J. Berkenhout Outl. Nat. Hist. Great Brit. & Ireland II. 3 Privet, or Prim. A tall, slender shrub. Flowers white, in clusters terminal.
1801 E. L'Hommedieu On Ditches & Hedges (ed. 2) 136 In the town of East-Hampton, in Suffolk county..at least two hundred miles of good prim-hedge died in the course of two or three years.
1829 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. xx. 122 The Prim [1835 prim or privet]..is found growing wild in some parts of New England.
1887 W. D. Parish & W. F. Shaw Kentish Dial. (E.D.S.) 121 Prim, the privet. Ligustrum vulgare.
1930 L. H. Bailey & E. Z. Bailey Hortus 298/1 The ordinary privet or prim holds its leaves well into the winter in the North.
1952 Amer. Speech 27 289 A survival of prim meaning a ‘bush’ or ‘hedge’.
2003 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 12 Oct. 17 He explains that..prim is privet; dwale is deadly nightshade, and stinking morel is stinkhorn fungus.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† primn.3
English regional (East Anglian). Obsolete.
A small smelt (fish).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > [noun] > family Osmeridae(smelts) > osmerus eperlanus (smelt)
smeltc725
sprotOE
sparling1307
spirlingc1425
spurlinga1471
prim1668
spirinchea1682
1668 Sir T. Browne Let. Dec. (1946) 373 There is a very small kind of smelt..called Primmes.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Prim, very small smelts. So called at Lynn, where the smelts are remarkably fine.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
† primn.4
Obsolete.
An excessively formal or precise person; a prig.
ΘΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > affected propriety > person
prig1677
prigster1688
prim1699
bluenose1903
Nice Nelly1922
priss1923
prissy1927
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Prim, a silly empty starcht Fellow.
1876 R. D. Blackmore Cripps III. xii. 192 A prude, or a prim, she would never wish to be.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2020).
† primn.5
Obsolete. rare.
The act of primming or screwing up the mouth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > mouth > [noun] > lip or lips > pursing
purse1665
mimp1786
prima1825
a1825 Mrs. Sherwood in Houlston Tracts (1860) II. No. 31. 11 When..a peculiar prim of the mouth was observed in the good housekeeper, the subject which had excited these symptoms was never pursued any further.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
Primn.6
/prɪm/, U.S. /prɪm/ colloquial. Now historical.
A Primitive Methodist.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Methodism > Methodist sects and groups > [noun] > primitive > person
Primitive Methodist1791
ranter1821
primitive1855
Prim1949
1861 A. Stevens Hist. Methodism III. 433 (note) Minutes, etc., of the Prim. Wes. Methodists.]
1949 E. Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 3) Add. 1142/2 Prim.., a Primitive Methodist: Nonconformists': late C. 19–20.
1978 Hist. Workshop Spring 208 In the 1850s and 1860s..Primitive Methodism began to relax... The ‘Ranters’ became the ‘Prims’.
1986 A. Hastings Hist. Eng. Christianity 1920–85 xi. 215 It was essential that a separate ministerial session be retained in conference—something quite foreign to the Prims.
2002 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 20 Dec. 10 The Prims were the first denomination to encourage female preachers.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
primadj.
/prɪm/, U.S. /prɪm/ 1. Of a person, an expression, feeling, etc.: consciously or affectedly strict or precise; stiffly formal and respectable; feeling or showing disapproval of something regarded as improper; prudish; demure.
ΘΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > affectedly proper
moy1487
strait-laced1554
mima1586
prim1702
prick-eared1707
prudish1717
priggish1731
primsy1786
trig1793
missish1795
missy1805
pershittie1808
missyish1818
missy-like1831
primmy1857
pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857
antiseptic1891
blue-nosed1893
prissy1894
Nice Nelly1922
prissified1923
prunes and prismy1931
1702 R. Steele Funeral iii. 43 Sure 'tis impossible! The Demure Prim thing [sc. lady]—sure all the World's Hypocrisy.
1728 J. Gay Beggar's Opera ii. iv. 23 As prim and demure as ever!
1807 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life II. xviii. 147 The next figure is that of a prim Miss of 12 or 13.
1833 H. Martineau Tale of Tyne i. 10 Setting his lips in a prim form.
1838 J. W. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 91 Pretty fairish for a prim Quakeress.
1885 W. Black White Heather i His costume was somewhat prim and precise.
1935 E. Glasgow Vein of Iron (1936) v. vii. 297 The nurse sat prim and straight in her chair.
1962 K. A. Porter Ship of Fools 38 She might, by that walk, be a prim little schoolteacher who kept in mind that she must carry her shoulders straight and her hips smoothly.
1995 Daily Express 17 Mar. 36/1 Gone are the days of the prim and bashful curates played by Derek Nimmo—religion has become hip and hot.
2. Of a thing: ordered, regular, formal.
Π
1737 in W. Harvard King Charles I Epil. In those prim Times—our Grandmothers of Yore—Preferr'd a Pray'r-book to a Matadore.
1780 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) IV. vii. 137 The garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 399 In many places, their forest trees have more the appearance of a prim hedge, than of timber.
1866 A. Trollope Belton Estate I. vii. 177 A square prim garden, arranged in parallelograms.
1925 Queen 22 Apr. 11 Its prim Eton collar, its daintiness of finish with its jabot and cuffs of pleated lawn.
1993 Toronto Life July 78/2 The sturdy harmony of faded yellow stucco ceiling over dark wood panelling might seem prim were it not for conversation's clamour.
Phrases
prim and proper adj.
Π
1855 H. W. Beecher Star Papers 171 Farewell—wild, wayward, simple stream!..In a few moments you will be grown to a huge millpond;..then, prim and proper, with ruffles of willow and aquatic bushes on each side, you will trip through the meadows.
1886 Daily Rev. (Decatur, Illinois) 12 Sept. He is too prim and proper.
1924 Times 9 Jan. 10/2 The lecturers—so exasperatingly prim and proper, so imposing in their Academic gowns and hoods.
1968 R. Hudson Grace is not Blue-eyed Blond (1972) ix. 144 It is such a pity that religion has become nicey nice and prim and proper.
2006 Mirror (Nexis) 3 Apr. 30 The prim and proper roundtoe pumps we've all been running around in.
Compounds
prim-lipped, prim-seeming, prim-set, adjs.
Π
1735 Prompter 21 Jan. 2/2 Will she give Room to the prim-seeming Wife, or the less-cautious Widow?
1841 Bentley's Misc. Dec. 584 Mrs. Dobinson's prim-visaged lady's maid.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 12 June 1/3 Then Force scarce hid, with a prim-set lip, the length of its eager tooth.
1926 J. Masefield Odtaa xix. 318 A prim-lipped man, with the look of a ‘spoiled priest’,..seemed to be in charge of the guard.
1953 E. S. Grenfell in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 2nd Ser. 74 The old man turned a..prim-lipped face to the parson.
1996 A. Ghosh Calcutta Chromosome (1997) xxiii. 165 It seemed like a strangely motley assortment of people:..a few young students, several prim-looking middle-class women—people you would never expect to see together.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
primv.
/prɪm/, U.S. /prɪm/ 1. intransitive. To assume a formal, precise, or demure look or air; to set the lips or face demurely or alluringly; to pout. Also transitive with it. Now rare.In quot. 1781: to set one's face or mouth firmly, as if to repel familiarities.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautify (the person) [verb (transitive)]
highta1200
atiffe?c1225
tiff?c1225
wyndre?a1366
kembc1386
picka1393
prunec1395
tifta1400
varnishc1405
finea1425
tifflea1425
quaint1484
embuda1529
trick?1532
trick1545
dill1548
tricka1555
prink1573
smug1588
sponge1588
smudge1589
perk1590
primpc1590
sponge1592
tricksy1598
prime1616
sprug1622
briska1625
to sleek upa1625
trickify1678
prim1688
titivate1705
dandify1823
beflounce1824
befop1866
spry1878
lustrify1886
dude1899
doll1916
tart1938
youthify1945
pansy1946
spiv1947
dolly1958
zhuzh1970
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > be affected or act affectedly [verb (intransitive)] > assume air of propriety
(as if) butter wouldn't melt in his (also her, etc.) mouth1530
quaint1590
prim1688
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautify [verb (transitive)] > ornament > trim or deck out
perfurnish1375
enflourish?a1400
varnish14..
perform1420
to pick outc1429
polish?1440
trimc1516
to set out1523
trick?1532
face1542
trick1545
prank1546
tricka1555
bawdefy1562
tickle1567
prink1573
finify1586
deck1587
decore1603
betrima1616
fangle1615
beprank1648
prim1688
to garnish outa1704
decorate1782
to do off1794
dizen1807
tricolatea1825
fal-lal1845
1688 T. D'Urfey Fool's Preferment iv. 56 Wife—be sure you hold up your Head now; and primm it as you did one Sunday at Church in the Country, when you put the Parson out of his Sermon, with staring at you.
1692 T. D'Urfey Marriage-hater Match'd v. iii. 51 Ay, I knew 'twas she—here's your coy, skittish Quean for ye,—they're all so, they Sneak and Prim in publick, as if Butter would not melt in their Mouths, but they are very Devils in a corner.
1696 T. D'Urfey Don Quixote iii. ii. 26 When I was a Maid, and under subjection, I prim'd and simper'd and was mealy-mouth'd as they call it.
1703 tr. A. de Courtin Rules Civility (rev. ed.) xxii. 206 A Lady will Prim it, or bridle it up, or pull off her Glove to shew a fine Hand.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Prim, to set the Mouth conceitedly, to be full of affected ways.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. xx. 99 I therefore wink'd at her. She primm'd; nodded, to shew she took me.
1781 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (2003) IV. 479 Tell dear Kitty not to prim up as if we had never met before.
1867 B. C. Cutler Past, Present & Future lxi. 158 Why, there is K—, that prims so much, And dresses very gay.
1893 G. Meredith Lord Ormont i They mince and prim and pout, and are sigh-away and dying-ducky.
1951 Bedford (Pa.) Gaz. 17 Dec. 7/2 Nicholas' shoulders straightened, his face primmed.
2.
a. transitive. To form (the face or mouth) into an expression of affected preciseness or demureness; to close (the lips) primly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > face with expression or expression > face with expression [verb (transitive)] > distort
wringa1300
fleer?a1400
writhec1425
cringe1594
screw1601
scringe1608
grin1681
to screw up1692
prim1707
frown1775
wring1806
wreathe1813
squinch1840
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > mouth > [verb (transitive)] > lips
sever1398
sparec1400
prim1707
mimp1710
pout1748
lip1826
unpurse1838
mouth1960
1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 44 The choicest Looking-Glass in Christendom for a Country-Corridon to prim his Phiz by.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. lxiv. 312 She prims up her horse-mouth.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. ii. vii. 285 Primming up her mouth into a smile, [she] promulgated this comfortable doctrine.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality vii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. II. 144 Her arms were folded, her mouth primmed into an expression of respect, mingled with obstinacy.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. iv. iv. 206 Mark also the Abbé Maury: his broad bold face; mouth accurately primmed; full eyes.
1876 G. Meredith Beauchamp's Career III. viii. 138 Rosamund primmed her lips at the success of her probing touch.
1943 A. Ransome Picts & Martyrs xii. 112 She was all the time seeing..pictures of the Great Aunt sitting listening, very upright in a chair, with her lips primmed together.
1946 J. Masefield Poems iv. 117 She never stirred, But, primming bitter lips before her glass, Admired her hat as though she hadn't heard.
1977 K. O'Hara Ghost of Thomas Penry viii. 68 Aunt May primmed her seamed little mouth.
b. transitive. To put in order (one's dress, hair, etc.); to dress up, deck out. Chiefly with up or out.
ΘΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > discourtesy > be discourteous [verb (intransitive)] > not be affable
to make oneself strange1390
to make (it) strangec1405
to make (it) strange1598
to wait one's distance1600
to wait one's distance1642
starch1698
prim1721
to cast snowballs1725
to put on the stranger1809
to show the cold shoulder1816
stiffen1864
to play hard to get1929
1721 A. Ramsay Tartana 344 May she..Be ridicul'd while primm'd up in her scarf.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. vii. 61 When my mamma was primm'd out, down she came to him.
1787 T. Holcroft Seduction iii. ii. 39 He primmed himself up in one corner, and seemed to think that, like the image of a Saint on a holyday, he was powdered and painted on purpose to be adored.
1845 Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) 28 Jan. One cannot be expected..to be always curled and primmed up, or even as tidy..as a girl waiting for her lover.
1860 ‘H. Lee’ Legends Fairy Land 5 So Idle primmed herself up..and went out in the finest intentions.
1875 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera V. lii. 95 This [church] has been duly patched..and primmed up.
a1879 J. B. Buckstone Ellen Wareham (1887) ii. ii. 11 Here have I been primmed up and dressed for this hour, waiting to be married, till I'm quite out of patience.
1901 Courier (Connellsville, Pa.) 15 Nov. 11/2 When..he set out in quest of his bride he was arrayed, primmed and perfumed as became a gallant of the boulevards.
1998 Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.) Record 18 Feb. The birthday girl and 12 of her closest girlfriends primmed and primped their way through a two-hour ‘glamour makeup party’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.11509
n.21573
n.31668n.41699n.5a1825
n.61949adj.1702v.1688