Category:Primitive

Prim"i*tive, a. Etym: [l. primitivus, fr. primus the first: cf. F. Primitif. See prime, a.]

1. Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; Original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the Primitive church. "our primitive great sire." Milton.

2. Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned; characterized by Simplicity; as, a primitive style of dress.

3. 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 of which is Of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the Harmony; -- opposed to derivative. Moore (encyc. of music). -- primitive circle (spherical projection), the circle cut from the Sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane. -- primitive colors (paint.), primary colors. See under color. -- primitive fathers (eccl.), the acknowledged christian writers who Flourished before the council of nice, a. D. 325. Shipley. -- primitive groove (anat.), a depression or groove in the epiblast Of the primitive streak. It is not connected with the medullary Groove, which appears later and in front of it. -- primitive plane (spherical projection), the plane upon which the Projections are made, generally coinciding with some principal circle Of the sphere, as the equator or a meridian. -- primitive rocks (geol.), primary rocks. See under primary. -- primitive sheath. (anat.) See neurilemma. -- primitive streak or trace (anat.), an opaque and thickened band Where the mesoblast first appears in the vertebrate blastoderm.

Syn. -- first; original; radical; pristine; ancient; primeval; Antiquated; old-fashioned.

Primitive Prim"i*tive, n.

Defn: an original or primary word; a word not derived from another; - - opposed to derivative.