Pri·ma·ry a.
 1. First in order of time or development or in intention; primitive; fundamental; original.
    The church of Christ, in its primary institution.   --Bp. Pearson.
    These I call original, or primary, qualities of body.   --Locke.
 2. First in order, as being preparatory to something higher; as, primary assemblies; primary schools.
 3. First in dignity or importance; chief; principal; as, primary planets; a matter of primary importance.
 4. Geol. Earliest formed; fundamental.
 5. Chem. Illustrating, possessing, or characterized by, some quality or property in the first degree; having undergone the first stage of substitution or replacement.
 Primary alcohol Organic Chem., any alcohol which possess the group CH2.OH, and can be oxidized so as to form a corresponding aldehyde and acid having the same number of carbon atoms; -- distinguished from secondary ∧ tertiary alcohols.
 Primary amine Chem., an amine containing the amido group, or a derivative of ammonia in which only one atom of hydrogen has been replaced by a basic radical; -- distinguished from secondary ∧ tertiary amines.
 Primary amputation Surg., an amputation for injury performed as soon as the shock due to the injury has passed away, and before symptoms of inflammation supervene.
 Primary axis Bot., the main stalk which bears a whole cluster of flowers.
 Primary colors. See under Color.
 Primary meeting, a meeting of citizens at which the first steps are taken towards the nomination of candidates, etc. See Caucus.
 Primary pinna Bot., one of those portions of a compound leaf or frond which branch off directly from the main rhachis or stem, whether simple or compounded.
 Primary planets. Astron. See the Note under Planet.
 Primary qualities of bodies, such are essential to and inseparable from them.
 Primary quills Zool., the largest feathers of the wing of a bird; primaries.
 Primary rocks Geol., a term early used for rocks supposed to have been first formed, being crystalline and containing no organic remains, as granite, gneiss, etc.; -- called also primitive rocks. The terms Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary rocks have also been used in like manner, but of these the last two only are now in use.
 Primary salt Chem., a salt derived from a polybasic acid in which only one acid hydrogen atom has been replaced by a base or basic radical.
 Primary syphilis Med., the initial stage of syphilis, including the period from the development of the original lesion or chancre to the first manifestation of symptoms indicative of general constitutional infection.
 Primary union Surg., union without suppuration; union by the first intention.


 Sec·ond·a·ry a.
 1. Succeeding next in order to the first; of second place, origin, rank, etc.; not primary; subordinate; not of the first order or rate.
    Wheresoever there is moral right on the one hand, no secondary right can discharge it.   --L'Estrange.
    Two are the radical differences; the secondary differences are as four.   --Bacon.
 2. Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as, the work of secondary hands.
 3. Chem. Possessing some quality, or having been subject to some operation (as substitution), in the second degree; as, a secondary salt, a secondary amine, etc. Cf. primary.
 4. Min. Subsequent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by alteration or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rock mass; also of characters of minerals (as secondary cleavage, etc.) developed by pressure or other causes.
 5. Zool. Pertaining to the second joint of the wing of a bird.
 6. Med. (a) Dependent or consequent upon another disease; as, Bright's disease is often secondary to scarlet fever. (b) Occurring in the second stage of a disease; as, the secondary symptoms of syphilis.
 Secondary accent. See the Note under Accent, n., 1.
 Secondary age. Geol. The Mesozoic age, or age before the Tertiary. See Mesozoic, and Note under Age, n., 8.
 Secondary alcohol Chem., any one of a series of alcohols which contain the radical CH.OH united with two hydrocarbon radicals. On oxidation the secondary alcohols form ketones.
 Secondary amputation Surg., an amputation for injury, performed after the constitutional effects of the injury have subsided.
 Secondary axis Opt., any line which passes through the optical center of a lens but not through the centers of curvature, or, in the case of a mirror, which passes through the center of curvature but not through the center of the mirror.
 Secondary battery. Elec. See under Battery, n., 4.
 Secondary circle Geom. & Astron., a great circle that passes through the poles of another great circle and is therefore perpendicular to its plane.
 Secondary circuit, Secondary coil Elec., a circuit or coil in which a current is produced by the induction of a current in a neighboring circuit or coil called the primary circuit or coil.
 Secondary color, a color formed by mixing any two primary colors in equal proportions.
 Secondary coverts Zool., the longer coverts which overlie the basal part of the secondary quills of a bird. See Illust. under Bird.
 Secondary crystal Min., a crystal derived from one of the primary forms.
 Secondary current Elec., a momentary current induced in a closed circuit by a current of electricity passing through the same or a contiguous circuit at the beginning and also at the end of the passage of the primary current.
 Secondary evidence, that which is admitted upon failure to obtain the primary or best evidence.
 Secondary fever Med., a fever coming on in a disease after the subsidence of the fever with which the disease began, as the fever which attends the outbreak of the eruption in smallpox.
 Secondary hemorrhage Med., hemorrhage occuring from a wounded blood vessel at some considerable time after the original bleeding has ceased.
 Secondary planet. Astron. See the Note under Planet.
 Secondary qualities, those qualities of bodies which are not inseparable from them as such, but are dependent for their development and intensity on the organism of the percipient, such as color, taste, odor, etc.
 Secondary quills or Secondary remiges Zool., the quill feathers arising from the forearm of a bird and forming a row continuous with the primaries; -- called also secondaries. See Illust. of Bird.
 Secondary rocks or Secondary strata Geol., those lying between the Primary, or Paleozoic, and Tertiary (see Primary rocks, under Primary); -- later restricted to strata of the Mesozoic age, and at present but little used.
 Secondary syphilis Med., the second stage of syphilis, including the period from the first development of constitutional symptoms to the time when the bones and the internal organs become involved.
 Secondary tint, any subdued tint, as gray.
 Secondary union Surg., the union of wounds after suppuration; union by the second intention.
 Syn: -- Second; second-rate; subordinate; inferior.