first

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   before anything else

   first we must consider the garter snake

2. 2
   adv

   the initial time

   when Felix first saw a garter snake

3. 3
   adv

   before another in time, space, or importance

   I was here first

4. 4
   adj

   ranking above all others

   They were first in their class to the surprise of nobody.

5. 5
   adj

   preceding all others in time or space or degree

   the first house on the right

6. 6
   adj

   highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections

   first soprano

7. 7
   noun

   the first element in a countable series

   the first of the month

8. 8
   noun

   coming before all others; highest in an ordering or series

   The dog was first to be adopted.

Etymology

From Middle English first, furst, ferst, fyrst, from Old English fyrest, from Proto-West Germanic *furist, from Proto-Germanic *furistaz (“first, foremost”), superlative of Proto-Germanic *furai, *furi (“before”), from Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- (“before”), from *per- (“before; first”), equivalent to fore + -est. Cognates Cognate with Scots first (“first”), Dutch voorste (“foremost, first”), vorst (“prince”), German Fürst (“chief, prince”, literally “first (born)”), Limburgish Vürsch (“prince”), Luxembourgish viischt (“anterior; forward”), Vilamovian fiyśt, fjəšt, fjyśt, fjyšt (“prince”), Dan…