Literary notes about prime (AI summary)
The word "prime" manifests a rich versatility in literary texts, serving diverse functions that are both literal and metaphorical. In some passages, it denotes the pinnacle or best phase of life, as when characters are described as being in the prime of manhood or youth [1][2][3]. In political narratives, "prime" designates an office or title, lending an air of preeminence to figures like the Prime Minister [4][5][6]. Its use extends into technical realms too, where it refers to fundamental numerical properties or the primary constituents of an argument [7][8][9]. Meanwhile, in poetic and dramatic contexts, the term underscores essential qualities or the beginning state of creative endeavors, evoking images of both energetic beginnings and the peak of achievement [10][11][12].
- Close friends when boys, they are close friends now in the prime of manhood.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - She was a woman in the prime of life; of a severe countenance; and subject (particularly in the arms) to a sort of perpetual measles or fiery rash.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - He was a man of medium stature, thickset and robust, in the prime of life.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - A transient pallor overspread the speaking countenance of the prime minister; he looked at the queen with anxiety.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - "Prime Minister of England," was his audacious reply.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - He became Prime Minister of England the second time at seventy-five, and died Prime Minister at eighty-one.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - numeral, complementary, divisible, aliquot, reciprocal, prime, relatively prime, fractional, decimal, figurate[obs3], incommensurable.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - Every prime number (except 1 and 2) may be expressed as the difference of two squares in one way, and in one way only.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - N. expenditure, money going out; out goings, out lay; expenses, disbursement; prime cost &c. (price) 812; circulation; run upon a bank.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - In prime and glory of his loving joy, Embraceth now with tears of ruth and 256 blood
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe - And, like a poor pedlar, he's carried his pack, And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
