first

first
firstness, adj.
/ferrst/, adj.
1. being before all others with respect to time, order, rank, importance, etc., used as the ordinal number of one: the first edition; the first vice president.
2. Music. highest or chief among several voices or instruments of the same class: first alto; first horn.
3. Auto. low (def. 31).
4. (often cap.) being a member of the household or an intimate acquaintance of the president of the U.S. or of the governor of a state: the First Lady; Checkers, the first dog.
5. first thing, before anything else; at once; promptly: I'll call you first thing when I arrive.
adv.
6. before all others or anything else in time, order, rank, etc.
7. before some other thing, event, etc.: If you're going, phone first.
8. for the first time: She first visited Atlanta in 1980.
9. in preference to something else; rather; sooner: I'd die first.
10. in the first place; firstly.
11. first and last, everything considered; above all else; altogether: First and last, it is important to know oneself.
12. first off, Informal. at the outset; immediately: He wanted to know first off why he hadn't been notified.
n.
13. the person or thing that is first in time, order, rank, etc.
14. the beginning.
15. the first part; first member of a series.
16. Music.
a. the voice or instrument that takes the highest or chief part in its class, esp. in an orchestra or chorus.
b. a leader of a part or group of performers.
17. Auto. low gear; first gear: She shifted into first and drove off.
18. the winning position or rank in a race or other competition.
19. Baseball. See first base.
20. Usually, firsts. Com.
a. a product or goods of the first or highest quality.
b. goods produced according to specifications, without visible flaws. Cf. second1 (def. 23), third (def. 12).
21. Brit. Univ.
a. first-class honors. Cf. class (def. 18).
b. a person who has won such honors.
[bef. 1000; ME; OE fyr(e)st (see FORE1, -EST); c. G Fürst prince]

* * *

(as used in expressions)
first one
Marne First Battle of the
Northern War First
Persian Gulf War First

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

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  • first — [ fɜrst ] function word *** First can be used in the following ways: as a number: This is the first car I ve ever owned. as a pronoun: It s often tougher for a team in their second year than their first. as an adverb: Speak to me first, before… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • first — ► ORDINAL NUMBER 1) coming before all others in time or order; earliest; 1st. 2) before doing something else specified or implied. 3) foremost in position, rank, or importance. 4) informal something never previously achieved or occurring. 5) Brit …   English terms dictionary

  • First — (f[ e]rst), a. [OE. first, furst, AS. fyrst; akin to Icel. fyrstr, Sw. & Dan. f[ o]rste, OHG. furist, G. f[ u]rst prince; a superlatiye form of E. for, fore. See {For}, {Fore}, and cf. {Formeer}, {Foremost}.] 1. Preceding all others of a series… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • First — or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one. It can also refer to:* FIRST, a science and technology competition founded by Dean Kamen * FIRST (CERT), Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams * Ruth First (1925 1982), a leading anti… …   Wikipedia

  • First In — – First Out (engl. etwa „Zuerst rein – zuerst raus“), häufig abgekürzt mit FIFO, gleichbedeutend mit First Come First Served bzw. FCFS, bezeichnet jegliche Verfahren der Speicherung, bei denen diejenigen Elemente, die zuerst gespeichert wurden,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • First TV — was the name of a cable television network that was operated in New Zealand s two main North Island cities, Auckland and Wellington by Telecom New Zealand in the 1990s.Trial stage First Media was a stupidly owned subsidiary of Telecom NZ. First… …   Wikipedia

  • first — 1. When used with a number, first (like last) normally precedes it, as in the first three cars. This practice dates from the 16c, when first came to be regarded more as an adjective than as a noun; before that time, it was common to say the two… …   Modern English usage

  • First — steht für: die obere Schnittkante von zwei Dachflächen, siehe Dachfirst eine Reihe von Gipfeln eines Gebirges, siehe Gebirgskamm in der Geologie die Schicht im unmittelbaren Kontakt zum Bezugshorizont, siehe Hangendes im Bergbau für das… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • first — I (earlier) adjective aboriginal, anterior, earlier, earliest, embryonic, inaugural, incipient, introductory, previous, primeval, primitive, prior associated concepts: at first impression, first lien, first reading, first stages of litigation, on …   Law dictionary

  • first — (adj., adv.) O.E. fyrst foremost, superlative of FORE (Cf. fore); from P.Gmc. *furisto (Cf. O.S. fuirst first, O.H.G. furist, O.N. fyrstr, Dan. fèrste, O.Fris. ferist, M.Du. vorste prince, Du. vors …   Etymology dictionary

  • first — [fʉrst] adj. [ME < OE fyrst, lit., foremost, superl. of fore, before (see FORE), akin to OHG furist, Ger fürst, prince, lit., foremost < IE base * per , beyond > L prae, before, Gr para, beside, beyond] 1. preceding all others in a… …   English World dictionary

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