Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\Prop"er\, adv. Properly; hence, to a great degree; very; as, proper good. [Colloq & Vulgar]