different between prime vs head

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French prime, from Latin primus (“first”), from earlier pr?smos < *pr?semos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?m, IPA^(key): /p?a??m/
• Hyphenation: prime
• Rhymes: -a?m

Adjective

prime (not comparable)

1. First in importance, degree, or rank.

   Synonyms: greatest, main, most important, primary, principal, top

2. First in time, order, or sequence.

   Synonyms: earliest, first, original
3. First in excellence, quality, or value.

   Synonyms: excellent, top quality
4. (mathematics, lay) Having exactly two integral factors: itself and unity (1 in the case of integers).

5. (mathematics, technical) Such that if it divides a product, it divides one of the multiplicands.
6. (mathematics) Having its complement closed under multiplication: said only of ideals.
7. Marked or distinguished by the prime symbol.
8. Early; blooming; being in the first stage.
9. (obsolete) Lecherous, lewd, lustful.

Synonyms

• (having no nontrivial factors): indivisible

Hyponyms

• biprime
• pseudoprime
• semiprime
• (having exactly two integral factors): coprime

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

prime (plural primes)

1. (historical) The first hour of daylight; the first canonical hour.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 2, Canto 9, p. 314,^[1]

     His larum bell might lowd and wyde be hard,

     When cause requyrd, but neuer out of time;

     Early and late it rong, at euening and at prime.

2. (Christianity) The religious service appointed to this hour.
3. (obsolete) The early morning generally.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 6, p. 81,^[2]

     They all as glad, as birdes of ioyous Pryme […]

4. (now rare) The earliest stage of something.
   • 1593, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie, London, 1604, Book 1, p. 69,^[3]

     To this end we see how quickly sundry artes Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the world.

   • 1645, Edmund Waller, “To a very young Lady” (earlier title: “To my young Lady Lucy Sidney”) in Poems, &c. Written upon Several Occasions, and to Several Persons, London: H. Herringman, 1686, p. 101,^[4]

     Hope waits upon the flowry prime,

5. The most active, thriving, or successful stage or period.
   • c. 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 12,^[5]

     When I do count the clock that tells the time,

     And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;

     When I behold the violet past prime,

     And sable curls all silver’d o'er with white;

   • 1813, John Chetwode Eustace, A Tour through Italy, London: J. Mawman, Volume 1, Chapter 10, pp. 225-226,^[6]

     None but foreigners, excluded by their religion from the cemeteries of the country, are deposited here […] . The far greater part had been cut off in their prime, by unexpected disease or fatal accident.

   • 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone

     Once upon a time you dressed so fine. You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
6. The chief or best individual or part.
   • 1726, Jonathan Swift, “To a Lady, who desired the author to write some verses upon her in the heroic style” in The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, London: W. Bowyer et al., Volume 7, p. 396,^[7]

     Give no more to ev’ry guest

     Than he’s able to digest:

     Give him always of the prime;

     And but a little at a time.

7. (music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.
8. (fencing) The first defensive position, with the sword hand held at head height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
9. (algebra, number theory) A prime element of a mathematical structure, particularly a prime number.

10. (card games) A four-card hand containing one card of each suit in the game of primero; the opposite of a flush in poker.
11. (backgammon) Six consecutive blocks, which prevent the opponent's pieces from passing.

12. The symbol ? used to indicate feet, minutes, derivation and other measures and mathematical operations.
13. (chemistry, obsolete) Any number expressing the combining weight or equivalent of any particular element; so called because these numbers were respectively reduced to their lowest relative terms on the fixed standard of hydrogen as 1.
14. An inch, as composed of twelve seconds in the duodecimal system.
15. (obsolete) The priming in a flintlock.
    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, pp. 95–96,^[8]

      […] he pull’d the Trigger, but Providence being pleas’d to preserve me for some other Purpose, the Cock snapp’d, and miss’d Fire. Whether the Prime was wet in the Pan, or by what other Miracle it was I escap’d his Fury, I cannot say […]

16. (film) Contraction of prime lens, a film lens
    • Tomlinson, Shawn M. (2015) Going Pro for $200 & How to Choose a Prime Lens, ?ISBN: “By the time I shifted to my first autofocus film SLR with the Pentax PZ-10, primes were considered things of the past”

Synonyms

• (early morning generally): See Thesaurus:early morning or Thesaurus:morning
• (most active, thriving, or successful stage or period): bloom, blossom, efflorescence, flower, flush, heyday, peak
• (chief or best individual or part): choice, prize, quality, select
• (algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure): prime number (when an integer)

Antonyms

• (algebra: prime element of a mathematical structure): composite

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• primality

Translations

Etymology 2

Related to primage and primus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?m, IPA^(key): /p?a??m/
• Rhymes: -a?m
• Hyphenation: prime

Verb

prime (third-person singular simple present primes, present participle priming, simple past and past participle primed)

1. (transitive) To prepare a mechanism for its main work.

   You'll have to press this button twice to prime the fuel pump.

2. (transitive) To apply a coat of primer paint to.

   I need to prime these handrails before we can apply the finish coat.

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be renewed.
4. (intransitive) To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
5. (intransitive, of a steam boiler) To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed.
6. To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
7. To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to coach.

   to prime a witness

   The boys are primed for mischief.
8. (Britain, dialect, obsolete) To trim or prune.

   to prime trees

9. (mathematics) To mark with a prime mark.

Synonyms

• (to apply a coat of primer paint to): ground, undercoat

Translations

Etymology 3

From French prime (“reward, prize, bonus”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?i?m/
• Rhymes: -i?m

Noun

prime (plural primes)

1. (cycling) An intermediate sprint within a race, usually offering a prize and/or points.
   • 1997 Arnie Baker, Smart Cycling: Successful Training and Racing for Riders of All Levels

     Most primes are won with gaps on the field; most sprints are in bunches.

Derived terms

• primer

Related terms

Anagrams

• Priem, emirp, imper.

Albanian

Etymology

From proj (“to guard, defend”).

Noun

prime f pl (definite plural primet)

1. remedies

Related terms

• proj

References

French

Etymology

From the feminine of Old French prim, prin, from Latin pr?mus, from earlier pr?smos < *pr?semos < Proto-Italic *priisemos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?im/
• Rhymes: -im

Adjective

prime (plural primes)

1. first thing

Derived terms

• de prime abord

Noun

prime f (plural primes)

1. reward; prize; bonus
2. premium (insurance policy)

Derived terms

• chasseur de primes
• en prime
• prime de départ
• prime de bienvenue

Further reading

• “prime” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• imper

Interlingua

Adjective

prime

1. first

Italian

Adjective

prime

1. feminine plural of primo

Anagrams

• premi

Latin

Numeral

pr?me

1. vocative masculine singular of pr?mus

References

• prime in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• prime in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?pri.me]

Adjective

prime

1. nominative feminine plural of prim
2. accusative feminine plural of prim
3. nominative neuter plural of prim
4. accusative neuter plural of prim

Spanish

Verb

prime

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of primar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of primar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of primar.

Tarantino

Adjective

prime

1. first

English

Alternative forms

• heed (obsolete), hed (obsolete)
• 'ead (UK, eye dialect)

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?d, IPA^(key): /h?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Etymology 1

From Middle English hed, heed, heved, heaved, from Old English h?afod (“head; top; source, origin; chief, leader; capital”), from Proto-Germanic *haubud? (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *káput-.

Noun

head (countable and uncountable, plural heads or head)

1. (countable) The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
   1. (people) To do with heads.
      1. Mental or emotional aptitude or skill.

      2. (figuratively, metonymically) Mind; one's own thoughts.
      3. A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication.
      4. A headdress; a covering for the head.

      5. (figuratively, metonymically) An individual person.
   2. (animals) To do with heads.
      1. (plural head, measure word for livestock and game) A single animal.

      2. The population of game.

      3. The antlers of a deer.
2. (countable) The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
   1. The end of a table.
      1. The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.

      2. (billiards) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked.
   2. (countable) The principal operative part of a machine or tool.
      1. The end of a hammer, axe, golf club, or similar implement used for striking other objects.
      2. The end of a nail, screw, bolt, or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide.

      3. The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer.

      4. (lacrosse) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball.
      5. (music) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound.

      6. A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium.

      7. (computing) The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data.
      8. (automotive) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs.
   3. (uncountable, countable) The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages.

      He never learned how to pour a glass of beer so it didn't have too much head.

   4. (engineering) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel.
   5. (Britain, geology) Deposits near the top of a geological succession.
   6. (journalism) Short for headline.
      • 1968, Earl English, ?Clarence Hach, Scholastic Journalism (page 166)

        The content of a headline over a news story should be taken from the lead of the story. […] The head should give the same impression as the body of the story.

   7. (medicine) The end of an abscess where pus collects.
   8. (music) The headstock of a guitar.
   9. (nautical) A leading component.
      1. The top edge of a sail.
      2. The bow of a vessel.
   10. (Britain) A headland.
3. (social, countable, metonymically) A leader or expert.
   1. The place of honour, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front.
   2. (metonymically) Leader; chief; mastermind.
   3. (metonymically) A headmaster or headmistress.
      • 1992 June 24, Edwina Currie, Diary:

        At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...'
        
        She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking.
        
        As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.

   4. (music, slang, figuratively, metonymically) A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop.

4. A significant or important part.
   1. A beginning or end, a protuberance.
      1. The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it.

      2. A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.
         1. An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal.
         2. The leafy top part of a tree.
      3. (anatomy) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint.
      4. (nautical) The toilet of a ship.

      5. (in the plural) Tiles laid at the eaves of a house.
         • 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. II, page 1086

           Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house

   2. A component.
      1. (jazz) The principal melody or theme of a piece.
      2. (linguistics) A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member.
5. Headway; progress.

6. Topic; subject.

7. (only in the singular) Denouement; crisis.
   • 1712 October 18, anonymous letter in The Spectator, edited by Joseph Addison, no. 513, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, volume IV, page 10:

     THE indi?po?ition which has long hung upon me, is at la?t grown to ?uch an head, that it mu?t quickly make an end of me, or of it?elf.

8. (fluid dynamics) Pressure and energy.
   1. (uncountable, countable) A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head.

      How much head do you have at the Glens Falls feeder dam?

   2. The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point.
   3. More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight.
9. (slang, uncountable) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex.

10. (slang) The glans penis.
11. (slang, countable) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs.
    • 1936, Lee Duncan, Over The Wall, Dutton

      Then I saw the more advanced narcotic addicts, who shot unbelievable doses of powerful heroin in the main line – the vein of their arms; the hysien users; chloroform sniffers, who belonged to the riff-raff element of the dope chippeys, who mingled freely with others of their kind; canned heat stiffs, paragoric hounds, laudanum fiends, and last but not least, the veronal heads.

    • 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 177,

      The hutch now looks like a “Turkish bath,” and the heads have their arms around one another, passing the pipe and snapping their fingers as they sing Smokey Robinson's “Tracks of My Tears” into the night.

12. (obsolete) Power; armed force.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:head.

Gallery

Synonyms

• (part of the body): caput (anatomy); pate, noggin (slang), loaf (slang), nut (slang), noodle (slang), bonce (British slang)
• (mental aptitude or talent): mind
• (mental or emotional control): composure, poise
• (topmost part of anything): top
• (leader): boss, chief, leader
• (headmaster, headmistress): headmaster m, headmistress f, principal (US)
• (toilet of a ship): See Thesaurus:toilet and Thesaurus:bathroom
• (top of a sail):
• (foam on carbonated beverages):
• (fellatio): blowjob, blow job, fellatio, oral sex
• (end of tool used for striking):
• (blunt end of fastener):
• See also Thesaurus:head

Antonyms

• (topmost part of anything): base, bottom, underside, foot, tail
• (leader): subordinate, underling
• (blunt end of fastener): point, sharp end, tip

Usage notes

• To give something its head is to allow it to run freely. This is used for horses, and, sometimes, figuratively for vehicles.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (heddo)
• Sranan Tongo: ede

Translations

See head/translations § Noun.

Adjective

head (not comparable)

1. Of, relating to, or intended for the head.

Translations

Verb

head (third-person singular simple present heads, present participle heading, simple past and past participle headed)

2. (transitive) To be in command of. (See also head up.)

3. (transitive) To come at the beginning of; to commence.

   A group of clowns headed the procession.

   The most important items headed the list.

4. (transitive) To strike with the head; as in soccer, to head the ball
5. (intransitive) To move in a specified direction.

6. (fishing) To remove the head from a fish.

7. (intransitive) To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
   • 1775, James Adair, The History of the American Indians, page 223

     a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,
8. (intransitive) To form a head.
9. (transitive) To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

10. (transitive) To cut off the top of; to lop off.

11. (transitive, obsolete) To behead; to decapitate.
    • 1822, Allan Cunningham, "Ezra Peden", in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, v. 1, p. 37.

      I tell thee, man of God, the uncharitableness of the sect to which thou pertainest has thronged the land of punishment as much as those who headed, and hanged, and stabbed, and shot, and tortured.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

12. To go in front of.

13. To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.

14. (by extension) To check or restrain.
15. To set on the head.

Derived terms

Translations

Related terms

• ahead
• knucklehead
• railhead
• smackhead

Etymology 2

From Middle English hed, heved, heaved, hæfedd, from Old English h?afod- (“principal, main, primary”), from Proto-Germanic *haubuda-, *haubida-, from Proto-Indo-European *kauput-, *káput- (“head”). Compare Saterland Frisian hööft-, West Frisian haad-, Dutch hoofd-, German Low German höövd-, German haupt-.

Adjective

head (not comparable)

1. Foremost in rank or importance.

2. Placed at the top or the front.
3. Coming from in front.

Synonyms

• (foremost in rank or importance): chief, principal
• (placed at the top or the front): first, top

Antonyms

• (coming from in front): tail

Translations

Anagrams

• DHEA, ahed, hade

Estonian

Adjective

head

1. inflection of hea:
   1. partitive singular
   2. plural