prim

Definition

Of a person, their manner or appearance: Formal and precise; stiffly decorous.

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. In the verb sense, first appeared in Thomas D'Urfey's A Fool's Preferment in the year 1688. In the noun sense, first appeared in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew in the year 1699, meaning "prig." Now obsolete. In the adjective sense, first appeared in Sir Richard Steele's The Funeral in the year 1702, meaning "consciously or affectedly strict or precise; stiffly formal and respectable." Oxford English Dictionary proposed a relation with primp and prink. Chiefly Scottish and U.S.

Example Sentences

• "Philemon was in great Surprize,⁠ And hardly could believe his Eyes, Amaz’d to ſee her look ſo prim; And ſhe admir’d as much at him."
• "God damn it, what does she want of me, this sad, beautiful bridgeplayer of the Fifth Floor, with her air of lost love and her prim carnality?"
• "And although Paul shares an apartment with his prim wife, aptly named Prudence, they rarely see or speak to each other."