catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Proper \Prop"er\, a. [OE. propre, F. propre, fr. L. proprius.
     Cf. Appropriate.]
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     1. Belonging to one; one's own; individual. ``His proper
        good'' [i. e., his own possessions]. --Chaucer. ``My
        proper son.'' --Shak.
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              Now learn the difference, at your proper cost,
              Betwixt true valor and an empty boast. --Dryden.
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     2. Belonging to the natural or essential constitution;
        peculiar; not common; particular; as, every animal has his
        proper instincts and appetites.
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              Those high and peculiar attributes . . . which
              constitute our proper humanity.       --Coleridge.
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     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.
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              The proper study of mankind is man.   --Pope.
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              In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play,
              All proper to the spring, and sprightly May.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     4. Becoming in appearance; well formed; handsome. [Archaic]
        ``Thou art a proper man.'' --Chaucer.
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              Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents,
              because they saw he was a proper child. --Heb. xi.
                                                    23.
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     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.
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     6. Rightly so called; strictly considered; as, Greece proper;
        the garden proper.
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     7. (Her.) Represented in its natural color; -- said of any
        object used as a charge.
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     In proper, individually; privately. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.
        
  
     Proper flower or Proper 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 Proper involucre (Bot.), that which
        incloses only a single flower.
  
     Proper receptacle (Bot.), a receptacle which supports only
        a single flower or fructification.
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