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proper |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Proper \Prop"er\, a. [OE. propre, F. propre, fr L. proprius Cf {Appropriate}.] 1. Belonging to one one's own individual. ``His proper good'' [i. e., his own possessions]. --Chaucer. ``My proper son.'' --Shak. Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, Betwixt true valor and an empty boast. --Dryden. 2. Belonging to the natural or essential constitution; peculiar; not common; particular; as every animal has his proper instincts and appetites. Those high and peculiar attributes . . . which constitute our proper humanity. --Coleridge. 3. Befitting one's nature, qualities, etc.; suitable in all respect; appropriate; right fit decent; as water is the proper element for fish; a proper dress. The proper study of mankind is man. --Pope. In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play, All proper to the spring, and sprightly May --Dryden. 4. Becoming in appearance; well formed; handsome. [Archaic] ``Thou art a proper man.'' --Chaucer. Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. --Heb. xi 23. 5. Pertaining to one of a species, but not common to the whole; not appellative; -- opposed to {common}; as a proper name Dublin is the proper name of a city. 6. Rightly so called strictly considered; as Greece proper; the garden proper. 7. (Her.) Represented in its natural color; -- said of any object used as a charge. {In proper}, individually; privately. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor. {Proper flower} or {corolla} (Bot.), one of the single florets, or corollets, in an aggregate or compound flower. {Proper fraction} (Arith.) a fraction in which the numerator is less than the denominator. {Proper nectary} (Bot.), a nectary separate from the petals and other parts of the flower. -- {Proper noun} (Gram.), a name belonging to an individual, by which it is distinguished from others of the same class; -- opposed to {common noun}; as John, Boston, America. {Proper perianth} or {involucre} (Bot.), that which incloses only a single flower. {Proper receptacle} (Bot.), a receptacle which supports only a single flower or fructification. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Proper \Prop"er\, adv Properly; hence to a great degree; very as proper good. [Colloq & Vulgar] From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: proper adj 1: marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness; "proper medical treatment"; "proper manners" [ant: {improper}] 2: limited to the thing specified; "the city proper"; "his claim is connected with the deed proper" [syn: {proper(ip)}] 3: appropriate for a condition or occasion; "everything in its proper place"; "the right man for the job"; "she is not suitable for the position" [syn: {right}, {suitable}] 4: having all the qualities typical of the thing specified; "wanted a proper dinner; not just a snack"; "he finally has a proper job" [syn: {proper(a)}]
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