Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRIM'I-TIVE, a. [It. primitivo; Fr. primitif; L. primitivus; from primus, first.]

1. Pertaining to the beginning or origin; original; first; as, the primitive state of Adam; primitive innocence; primitive ages; the primitive church; the primitive Christian church or institutions; the primitive fathers. – White. Tillotson.
2. Formal; affectedly solemn; imitating the supposed gravity of old times. – Johnson.
3. Original; primary; radical; not derived; as, a primitive verb in grammar. Primitive colors, in painting, are red, yellow, and blue, from the combinations of which all other colors may be produced. Primitive rocks, in geology, rocks supposed to be first formed, being irregularly crystalized, and aggregated without a cement, and containing no organic remains; as, granite, gneiss, &c.