Primary \Pri"ma*ry\, a. [L. primarius, fr. primus first: cf. F.
   primaire. See {Prime}, a., and cf. {Premier}, {Primero}.]
   1. First in order of time or development or in intention;
      primitive; fundamental; original.
      
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            The church of Christ, in its primary institution.
                                                  --Bp. Pearson.
      
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            These I call original, or primary, qualities of
            body.                                 --Locke.
      
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   2. First in order, as being preparatory to something higher;
      as, primary assemblies; primary schools.
      
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   3. First in dignity or importance; chief; principal; as,
      primary planets; a matter of primary importance.
      
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   4. (Geol.) Earliest formed; fundamental.
      
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   5. (Chem.) Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by,
      some quality or property in the first degree; having
      undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
      
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   {Primary alcohol} (Organic Chem.), any alcohol which possess
      the group {CH2.OH}, and can be oxidized so as to form a
      corresponding aldehyde and acid having the same number of
      carbon atoms; -- distinguished from {secondary & tertiary  alcohols}.

   {Primary amine} (Chem.), an amine containing the amido group,
      or a derivative of ammonia in which only one atom of
      hydrogen has been replaced by a basic radical; --
      distinguished from {secondary & tertiary amines}.

   {Primary amputation} (Surg.), an amputation for injury
      performed as soon as the shock due to the injury has
      passed away, and before symptoms of inflammation
      supervene.

   {Primary axis} (Bot.), the main stalk which bears a whole
      cluster of flowers.

   {Primary colors}. See under {Color}.

   {Primary meeting}, a meeting of citizens at which the first
      steps are taken towards the nomination of candidates, etc.
      See {Caucus}.

   {Primary pinna} (Bot.), one of those portions of a compound
      leaf or frond which branch off directly from the main
      rhachis or stem, whether simple or compounded.

   {Primary planets}. (Astron.) See the Note under {Planet}.

   {Primary qualities of bodies}, such are essential to and
      inseparable from them.

   {Primary quills} (Zool.), the largest feathers of the wing of
      a bird; primaries.

   {Primary rocks} (Geol.), a term early used for rocks supposed
      to have been first formed, being crystalline and
      containing no organic remains, as granite, gneiss, etc.;
      -- called also {primitive rocks}. The terms Secondary,
      Tertiary, and Quaternary rocks have also been used in like
      manner, but of these the last two only are now in use.

   {Primary salt} (Chem.), a salt derived from a polybasic acid
      in which only one acid hydrogen atom has been replaced by
      a base or basic radical.

   {Primary syphilis} (Med.), the initial stage of syphilis,
      including the period from the development of the original
      lesion or chancre to the first manifestation of symptoms
      indicative of general constitutional infection.

   {Primary union} (Surg.), union without suppuration; union by
      the first intention.
      
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Primitive \Prim"i*tive\, a. [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.
      
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   2. Of or pertaining to a former time; old-fashioned;
      characterized by simplicity; as, a primitive style of
      dress.
      
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   3. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, primitive
      verb in grammar.
      
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   {Primitive axes of coordinate} (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 {Primitive trace} (Anat.), an opaque
      and thickened band where the mesoblast first appears in
      the vertebrate blastoderm.
      
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   Syn: First; original; radical; pristine; ancient; primeval;
        antiquated; old-fashioned.
        
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