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primero

[pri-mair-oh]
noun
  1. a card game fashionable in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Origin of primero

1525–35; < Spanish: literally, first < Latin prīmārius primary
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for primero

Historical Examples

  • So Decker: "Talke of none but lords and such ladies with whom you have plaid at Primero."

    Microcosmography

    John Earle

  • REST, "set up one's—," venture one's all, one's last stake (from game of primero).

  • Near them play was going on at one table, and primero at a second.

    A Gentleman of France

    Stanley Weyman

  • Primero, or ombre, is said to be the ancestor of our modern game of poker.

  • And now there had come into Suffolk a rumour that Mr. Primero was to have a peerage.

    The Way We Live Now

    Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for primero

primero

noun
  1. mainly British a 16th- and 17th-century card game
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Word Origin

C16: from Spanish primera card game, from primero first, from Latin prīmārius chief
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012