to make prim, as in appearance.
to draw (one's face, lips, etc.) into a prim expression.
primary.
primitive.
(tr) to make prim
to purse (the mouth) primly or (of the mouth) to be so pursed
First recorded in 1675–85; origin uncertain
First recorded in 1565–75; shortening of earlier primprint privet < ?
Prim means polite, straight-laced, even twee. Many characters in Jane Austen novels are prim and proper. Prim describes someone who is so concerned with being proper it becomes almost fake. If you go to the beach on spring break wearing a Victorian bathing costume, you're being prim. Clothes can be prim, too, like that long wool swimsuit. If you're feeling crazy, you can use prim as a verb meaning, "to purse your mouth into a prim expression" — like how you prim your lips when you look down your nose at someone using the wrong fork.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This bold diagonal, cut through the prim Quaker street grid, produced a great many awkwardly shaped blocks, including the pointy trapezoid between the Parkway and the Vine Street Expressway that houses Calder Gardens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2025
Before each performance, the scene is set by a narrator who speaks in a prim, puritanical accent reminiscent of a bygone era.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
Not only are viewers watching boldface names eat, they’re also watching them eat foods that are considered distasteful — which goes against the prim and proper image that celebrities are expected to uphold.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2024
A portrait of a prim young lady in bright brushstrokes was being sold for $5,190.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2023
A prim woman with bobbed hair and a throaty French accent asked Felicia to remove her shoes and knee socks, then made a note in a calfskin ledger.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
I think it is, Edwardi sext. or prim. et quint.
From An Essay on Man by Morley, Henry
Place of imprisonment, penitentiary; prim. a fortress, or the garrison thereof.
From The Bible in Spain - Vol. 2 [of 2] by Borrow, George Henry
A stew; prim. the pot in which the stew is made, which, as in the case of the olla, has come to signify the contents.
From The Bible in Spain - Vol. 2 [of 2] by Borrow, George Henry
The brasher yet primmer Adewunmi speaks in a cosmopolitan London accent, while the quieter but more moan-prone Perkins drawls in a slight Tennessee twang.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2018
To hear the "pulpit genius," Dr. Joseph Parker, actors, authors, artists and bohemians pressed into City Temple alongside primmer Victorians.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Let me look out," said the second lady, who was, if possible, older and thinner and primmer than the first.
From The Strand Magazine, Volume XXVII, Issue 160, April, 1904 by Various
She was sewing as for dear life, and her face was primmer and colder than ever.
From Chronicles of Avonlea by Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud)
"Be the tarnal primmer, Dandy Duffy, but I see it now!" said the Rouser, struck by Bartle's address, and indignant at the idea of having been overreached by him.
From Fardorougha, The Miser The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by Carleton, William
And even the primmest of towns will have their mischief-makers.
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
Into an elegant manse atop the white cliffs of England's south coast ventures Deborah Kerr, beautifully coiffed and dressed for a royal weekend, doing her primmest impersonation of a gentlewoman fallen upon difficult days.
From Time Magazine Archive
He gave her the flower—she gave him a kiss— His suit she had long been scorning; But you never can tell what the primmest miss Will do of a bright spring morning.
From The Cornflower, and Other Poems by Blewett, Jean
Aunt Alice telegraphed to her lawyer, the dearest, primmest old fellow, and he dined with me, protesting all the time against my sailing.
From The Firefly of France by Angellotti, Marion Polk
"Will you two please listen to reason?" queried Betty, in her primmest tones.
From The Outdoor Girls at the Hostess House Or, doing their best for the soldiers by Hope, Laura Lee
He saw the fine thin lips, like a woman's, primmed in satisfaction.
From The Path of the King by Buchan, John
The Ladies' Society fluttered at sight of him, and primmed itself, and shook out its skirts.
From Geoffrey Strong by Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
Before the pleasant afternoon closed, he had gained permission to call the truant Letty, and she primmed her rosy lips as he taught her to say Will.
From The Chequers Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in a Loafer's Diary by Runciman, James
With other thought, mark also the Abbé Maury; his broad bold face, mouth accurately primmed, full eyes, that ray out intelligence, falsehood,—the sort of sophistry which is astonished you should find it sophistical.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. VIII by Various
She just primmed up her lips very determinedly, picked up the silk dress, and carried it to her room.
From Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908 by Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud)
Then pulled herself together as the landlady in curled fringe and long grey ulster entered the room, primming long, thin lips.
From The Privet Hedge by Buckrose, J. E.
His face was dingy, his lips were grey, From primming sparrowbills day by day; As he turned his boot he heard a noise At his garden-end and he thought, "It's boys."
From Reynard the Fox by Masefield, John
To wind up all, Ellwood, primming up his Mouth, says, "Thou hast found much to tell us, Friend Milton, on Paradise Lost;—now, what hast thou to tell of Paradise Regained?"
From Mary Powell & Deborah's Diary by Manning, Anne
She sat very straight in her chair, eating with the careful gentility of a bird, and primming her thin lips after every mouthful of tea.
From Huntingtower by Buchan, John
"I told Ma that she had on bracelets, and Ma said she feared your cousin was a worldly person," retorted Cecy, primming up her lips.
From What Katy Did by Coolidge, Susan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
