prime
verb/praɪm/
/praɪm/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they prime | /praɪm/ /praɪm/ |
| he / she / it primes | /praɪmz/ /praɪmz/ |
| past simple primed | /praɪmd/ /praɪmd/ |
| past participle primed | /praɪmd/ /praɪmd/ |
| -ing form priming | /ˈpraɪmɪŋ/ /ˈpraɪmɪŋ/ |
- to prepare somebody for a situation so that they know what to do, especially by giving them special information synonym brief
- prime somebody (with something) They had been primed with good advice.
- prime somebody (for something) She was ready and primed for action.
- prime somebody to do something He had primed his friends to give the journalists as little information as possible.
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- prime something to make something ready for use or action
- The bomb was primed, ready to explode.
- prime something to prepare wood, metal, etc. for painting by covering it with a special paint that helps the next layer of paint to stay on
Word Originverb early 16th cent. (in the sense ‘fill, load’): origin uncertain; probably based on Latin primus ‘first’, since the sense expressed is a “first” operation prior to something else.
Idioms
See prime in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee prime in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishprime the pump
- to encourage the growth of a new or weak business or industry by putting money into it
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