primary wave

noun

Origin of primary wave

First recorded in 1915–20

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Those are P waves, or primary waves, which occur first and travel the fastest, and S, or secondary waves, which travel slower but do the real damage we think of during a quake.
Marsquakes reveal the red planet is way more radioactive than we thought | Monroe Hammond | July 23, 2021 | Popular-Science
The fronts of these secondary waves all lie on a surface, which becomes the new surface of the primary wave.
Heroes of Science: Physicists | William Garnett
But a little consideration will prove that in that case the series of secondary waves could not reconstitute the primary wave.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 | Various
For a point Q outside the shadow the integration extends over more than half the primary wave.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 | Various
The operative part, or parts, of the curve are of course those which represent the unobstructed portions of the primary wave.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 | Various

The conception of the lamina leads immediately to two schemes, according to which a primary wave may be supposed to be broken up.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4 | Various

primary wave

A type of seismic body wave in which rock particles vibrate parallel to the direction of wave travel. Primary waves are alternatingly compressional and extensional, and cause the rocks they pass through to change in volume. These waves are the fastest traveling seismic waves and can travel through solids, liquids, and gases. Also called P wave See Note at earthquake.

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