Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Primer |
PrimerNoun1. An introductory textbook. 2. Any igniter by which an explosive charge is ignited. 3. The first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "primer" was first used: 1378. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Building & Civil Engineering | The portion of a charge, loaded with a firing device, which initiates the explosion ; cartridge in which the detonator is inserted ; the explosive cartridge into which the detonator has been inserted. Source: European Union. (references) |
Chemical Industry | The first coat in a paint system, its main purpose being to impact adhesion. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A contrivance, as a cap tube or wafer containing percussion powder or other compound, for igniting an explosive charge and itself ignited by friction, percussion or electricity. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Electrical Engineering | An electrode whose function is to maintain the gas or vapour in a gas discharge tube in a state of partial ionisation. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | Booster:an explosive of special character used in small quantities to improve the performance of another explosive, the latter forming the major portion of the charge; primer charge:a boosting charge placed in contact with a detonator to ensure detonation of the main charge; primer cartridge:the explosive cartridge into which the detonator has been inserted; primer:a contrivance, as a cap, tube, or wafer containing percussion powder or other compound, for igniting an explosive charge and itself ignited by friction, percussion or electricity; the cartridge or that portion of a charge which carries a detonator or is coupled to Cordtex fuse and which detonates or sets off the remainder of the charge. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A. A contrivance, such as a cap, tube, or wafer, containing percussion powder or other compound for igniting an explosive charge; ignited by friction, percussion, or electricity. Syn:percussion ca b. The cartridge or that portion of a charge that carries a detonator or is coupled to Cordtex fuse and that detonates or sets off the remainder of the charge. The primer cartridge is placed at one end of the charge with the detonator pointing toward the charge. See also:direct initiatio c. In blasting, the cartridge in which the cap is placed d. Usually the combination of a dynamite cartridge and a detonating ca. (references) | |
Transportation | Bouton d'appel de l'essence. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Most DNA polymerases (enzymes that catalyze the replication of DNA) cannot begin synthesizing a new DNA strand from scratch, but can only add to an existing strand of nucleotides. A nucleic acid strand (or related molecule) that serves as a starting point for replication is referred to as a primer.In most natural DNA replication, the ultimate primer for DNA synthesis is a short strand of RNA. This RNA is produced by an RNA polymerase, and is later removed and replaced with DNA by a DNA polymerase.
Many laboratory techniques of molecular biology that involve DNA polymerases, such as DNA sequencing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), require primers. The primers used for these techniques are usually short (about 20 bases), artificially synthesized DNA molecules. The actual construction of such primers starts with 3'-hydroxyl nucleosides attached to a so-called controlled-pore glass (CPG). The 5'-hydroxyl of the nucleosides is covered dimethoxytrityl (DMT), which prevents the building of a nucleotide chain. To add a nucleotide, DMT is chemically removed removed, and the nucleotide is added. The 5'-hydroxyl of the new nucleotide is blocked by DMT, preventing the addition of more than one nucleotide to each chain. After that, the cycle is repeated for each nucleotide in the primer. This is a simplified description, the actual process is quite complicated. For that reason, most laboratories do not make primers themselves, but order them by specialized companies.
DNA sequencing is used to determine the nucleotides in a DNA strand. A sequencing method called dideoxy sequencing (also known as chain termination method or Sanger method uses a primer as a start marker for the chain reaction.
In Polymerase Chain Reaction, primers are used to determine the DNA fragment to be amplified by the PCR process. The length of primers is usually not more than 50 nucleotides (Since DNA is usually double-stranded, its length is measured in base pairs. The length of single-stranded DNA is measured in bases or nucleotides.), and they match exactly the beginning and the end of the DNA fragment to be amplified. They anneal (adhere) to the DNA template at these starting and ending points, where the DNA-Polymerase binds and begins the synthesis of the new DNA strand.
The choice of the length of the primers and their melting temperature depends on a number of considerations. The melting (or annealing) temperature of a primer is defined as the temperature below which the primer will anneal to the DNA template and above which the primer will dissociate (break apart) from the DNA template. The melting temperature required increases with the length of the primer. Primers that are too short would anneal at several positions on a long DNA template, which would result in non-specific copies. On the other hand, the length of a primer is limited by the temperature required to melt it. Melting temperatures that are too high, i.e., above 80°C, can also cause problems since the DNA-Polymerase is less active at such temperatures. The optimum length of a primer is generally from 30 to 40 nucleotides with a melting temperature between about 60°C and 75°C. There are several ways to calculate the melting temperature (TM) of primers. (A, G, C and T are the number of nucleotides in the primer, respectively. [Na+] is the concentration of Na+ in the PCR vial.)
- "GC"-method : Fast and simple, for primers with more than 13 nucleotides.
- "Salt-adjusted"-method : More accurate than GC, for primers with more than 13 nucleotides.
- Base-stacking calculation : Most accurate, but complicated
where is the enthalpy of base stacking interactions adjusted for helix initiation factors is the entropy of base stacking adjusted for helix initiation factors and for the contributions of salts to the entropy is the universal gas constant Also, a primer should not easily anneal with itself or others of its kind, building loops or hairpins in the process. This could hinder the annealing with the template DNA. However, small hairpins are usually unavoidable. An earlier version of the above article can be found at http://www.nupedia.com.
A Primer is also a common name for any substance used to start a fire.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Primer."
Synonyms: PrimerSynonyms: flat coat (n), fuse (n), fusee (n), fuze (n), fuzee (n), ground (n), primer coat (n), priming (n), priming coat (n), undercoat (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
School | School book, horn book, text book; grammar, primer, abecedary, rudiments, manual, vade mecum; encyclopedia, cyclopedia; Lindley Murray, dictionary, lexicon. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | El Primer paso... de la mujer (1974) Mi primer amor (1973) Agencia de información Primer Festival de Mortadelo y Filemón (1969) Un Pato de primer plato (1969) Primer día de clases (1966) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | "Una caminata de cien millas comienza con el primer paso". Credit: National Library of Medicine. | ![]() | Probably at Noumea, New Caledonia, as seen from USS Wasp (CV-7) on the eve of the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion. Photo is dated 4 August 1942. Note red lead primer showing through the boot topping along her waterline and large crowd of men on her decks. Credit: NAVY. |
![]() | Primer Monumento Nacional, Cuba. 1557] / E. Pola. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Jeremy Bentham | The schoolmaster is abroad! And I trust to him armed with his primer against the soldier in full military array. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Collectively, the material presented in Part I is a complete primer on basic research topics for patients with Fuchs' dystrophy. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Guatemala | Included in the package is the Popol Vuh, a primer on Mayan cosmology. (references) |
Trade | Nicaragua | Furthermore, Primer Banco Inmobiliario (PRIBANCO) merged with BANPRO, and Banco Mercantil (BAMER) with Banco de Crédito Centroamericano (BANCENTRO). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Primer" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Primer" is used about 237 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 237 | 19,467 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "primer" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Primer | Last name | 400 | 22,717 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "primer": children's primer ♦ Detonating primer ♦ Friction primer ♦ great primer ♦ long primer ♦ primer cartridge ♦ primer coat ♦ primer electrode ♦ primer fine ♦ primer seizin ♦ tar primer. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "primer": primer-template, primer-undercoat-topcoat, primer-walking. | |
Ending with "primer": pleasure-primer, template-primer. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
primer impacto | 175 | epoxy primer | 14 |
primer | 152 | new england primer | 13 |
primer 55 | 114 | radon risk primer | 12 |
paint primer | 67 | impacto.com primer | 12 |
html primer | 51 | self etching primer | 11 |
primer design | 51 | aluminum primer | 11 |
baseball primer | 39 | amor hora mil por primer | 11 |
primer amor | 31 | cci primer | 11 |
de ecuaciones grado primer | 27 | make up primer | 11 |
chronicle primer | 24 | john primer | 10 |
pcr primer design | 24 | dna primer | 10 |
kilz primer | 23 | c++ primer | 10 |
pcr primer | 22 | metal primer | 10 |
mi millon primer | 21 | primer bulb | 10 |
prairie primer | 20 | chromate primer zinc | 10 |
55 lyrics primer | 20 | berdan primer | 9 |
trap primer | 19 | auto primer | 9 |
3 primer | 17 | alps primer vphoto | 9 |
dna in primer sequencing | 16 | xml primer | 9 |
automotive primer | 16 | federal primer | 9 |
bacilos mi millon primer | 9 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "primer"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | ndezës (igniter, incendiary, lighter), mbushës (cement, charger, expletive, furniture), kapsollë (detonator, fuse, fuze, percussion cap), abetare (ABC book, children's primer). (various references) | |
Arabic | فتيل (cord, fuse, fuze, slow match, wick), كتاب تمهيدي, الكتاب الأول, إعداد (arranger, concoction, elaboration, enrollment, planning, preamble, preparation), شعيلة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | учебник за начинаещи, часослов, терция, капсула (cachet, cap, capsule, percussion cap, sheath, theca), грунд (couch, ground, ground color, ground colour, undertint), наустница, запалител (igniter, ignition), буквар (abc book, children's primer, hornbook), боя (coat, dip, dye, grain, paint, stain, tint). (various references) | |
Chinese | 底漆. (various references) | |
Czech | základy nauky, slabikář (spelling book). (various references) | |
Danish | primer (booster, priming coat), tændpatron (dummy, primer cartridge, receptor, stemming cartridge), tændladning (bead of igniting compound, igniting compound, initiating composition, initiation charge, priming charge), sprængkapsel (blasting cap, cap, detonator, fuse cap, igniter, percussion cap), indsætning af sprængkapsel (initiation, priming), holdeelektrode (ionization electrode, keep-alive electrode, primer electrode), grundmaling (priming coat), forlakering (key lacquer), detonator (blasting cap, booster, cap, detonator, fuse, fuse cap, igniter, percussion cap), ansugningsindretning, ansugningpumpe, ABC (ABC book, first reader). (various references) | |
Dutch | primer (ionization electrode, keep-alive electrode, primer electrode), plamuur (putty), slagpatroon (primer cartridge), slaghoedje, ontluchtingsinrichting, grondverf (priming coat, priming colour, priming paint), grondlak (key lacquer), eerste leesboek, eerste laag (base layer, first coat, lower layer, prime coat, prime coat of paint, priming coat, priming coat of paint, shop painting), activeringselektrode (ionization electrode, keep-alive electrode, primer electrode), aanzuigtoestel (gas aspirating bottle), aanzetlading (initiation charge, priming charge). (various references) | |
Farsi | مبادی اولیه , چاشنی (Condiment, Detonator, Flavor, Relish, Sauce), کتاب الفباء , وابسته بدوران بشراولیه , ابتداءی (Elementary, Infantile, Initial, Preliminary, Primary, Rudiment, Rudimentary), بتونه (Putty), باستانی (Ancient, Antiquarian, Antique, Gray, Old, Primeval, Relic). (various references) | |
Finnish | sytytin (fuse, lighter). (various references) | |
French | amorce (priming). (various references) | |
German | Fibel (ABC book, fibula, reader, spelling book), grundierung (ground, ground coat, grounding, undercoat, undercoating), grundierfarbe (flash primer). (various references) | |
Greek | σύστημα εκκίνησης, γόμωση έναυσης (initiation charge, priming charge), γόμωση (charge, priming), βασική στρώση χρώματος (priming coat), προκαταρκτικό βερνίκωμα (key lacquer), προκαταρκτικό λακάρισμα (key lacquer), εμπύρευμα (lighter, primer cartridge), αναγνωστικό (reader, school book), αλφαβητάρι (spelling book). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מאיץ (accelerator, booster, impellant), שכבת יסו", צבע יסו", ספר למו" למתחילים, ספר א-ב (abecedary). (various references) | |
Hungarian | alapelemek (accidence, fundamentals), ábécéskönyv (abc book). (various references) | |
Indonesian | cat dasar. (various references) | |
Italian | primo libro di lettura, prima mano (priming coat, priming colour, priming paint), preparazione alla stampa (key lacquer), vernice base, testo elementare, sistema di adescamento, mano di fondo (base layer, bottoming, first coat, lower layer, prime coat, prime coat of paint, prime coats, priming coat, priming coat of paint, priming colour, priming paint), laccatura (lacquering), elettrodo di mantenimento (ionization electrode, keep-alive electrode, primer electrode), detonatore primario, capsula detonante, appretto (size). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 入門書 (introductory book, manual), 入門 (entering an institute, introduction to, manual). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | にゅうも"しょ (introductory book, manual), にゅうも" (entering an institute, introduction to, manual). (various references) | |
Korean | 뇌관. (various references) | |
Manx | primeyder, bun-lioar. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | imerpray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | escorva (detonator, igniter, initiation charge, priming charge). (various references) | |
Romanian | iniţialã (initial), grund (groundwork, priming, rough cast), azbuche (abc), amorsã (match), abecedar (abc, horn-book, reader, speller, spelling book). (various references) | |
Russian | капсюль (cap, capsule, percussion cup), грунтовка (clearcole, dead color, dead colour, priming), введение (injection, introduction, lead in, lead up, prolegomena), молитвенник (ordinal, prayer book, prayer-book, service book, service-book), букварь (abc book, abc-book, children's primer). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | osnovni premaz (long primer, undercoat), mali molitvenik, kapisla (cap), fitilj (fuse, spunk, wick), bukvar (abc book, hornbook, speller, spelling book). (various references) | |
Spanish | cebador (automatic thermoelectric switch, bootstrap, fattener, feeder, finisher, initiator, starter). (various references) | |
Swedish | primer, nybörjarbok, knallhatt (detonator), grundfärg (clearcole, first coat, ground, ground color, ground colour, primary color, primary colour, priming). (various references) | |
Turkish | püskürtme düzeni, kapsül (cachet, capsular, capsule, cyst, detonating cap, module), ilk okuma kitabı, falya barutu, el kitabı (companion, guide, guidebook, handbook, how-to-do-it book, manual), dua kitabı (missal, prayer book, service book), ateşleme fitili, astar boya (couch, priming, undercoat), alfabe (ABC, alphabet, basics, elements, fundamentals, rudiments, script), ağızotu (priming). (various references) | |
Turkmen | harplyk (alphabet book, kindergarten primer). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | грунтовка (clear-cole, ground, priming), молитовник (missal, ordinal, prayer book), запал (eagerness, fervor, fervour, fuse, fusee, fuze, ignition, lighter, mettle, passion, squib, zeal, zest), буквар (a.b.c., abc, abc book, hornbook), пістон (cap, piston). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sách vở lòng ngòi nổ. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | primus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "primer": primero, primeros, primers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Primer" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: orramer, Peiner, perimer, Pfrommer, Pirmez, Plimmer, preener, prejmer, premeer, premer, premere, priem, Priemer, primi, primie, primier, prina, prisme, priyer, prizer, pryme, prymer, Rimer, tpframe. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "primer" (pronounced prī"mer) |
| 4 | -r ī" m er | Rhymer, Rimer. |
| 3 | -ī" m er | climber, dimer, timer. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-m-p-r-r" | |
-1 letter: prier, prime, rimer, riper. | |
-2 letters: emir, mire, peri, perm, pier, prim, rime, ripe. | |
-3 letters: err, imp, ire, mir, per, pie, rei, rem, rep, rim, rip. | |
-4 letters: em, er, me, mi, pe, pi, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-i-m-p-r-r" | |
+1 letter: crimper, premier, pretrim, primero, primers, primmer. | |
+2 letters: crimpers, crimpier, frumpier, grumpier, impairer, imparter, implorer, importer, improper, improver, periderm, premiere, premiers, pretrims, primeros, primrose, promiser, reimport, rumplier, scrimper, shrimper, simperer. | |
+3 letters: crumplier, impairers, imparters, imperator, implorers, importers, imprinter, improvers, micropore, misreport, periderms, perimeter, permitter, prearming, premiered, premieres, pretermit, primaries, primavera, primroses, promisers, reimports, repairman, repairmen, reprimand, scrimpers, scrimpier, shrimpers, shrimpier, simperers, superfirm. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.