01 a. Belonging to one; one's own; individual.
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1.
Belonging to one; one's own; individual.“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.“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.“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.
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4.
Becoming in appearance; well formed; handsome.[Archaic]“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.
Represented in its natural color; -- said of any object used as a charge.(Her.)
Phrases & compounds
In proper —
individually; privately.
Proper flower —
one of the single florets, or corollets, in an aggregate or compound flower.
Proper fraction —
a fraction in which the numerator is less than the denominator.
Proper nectary —
a nectary separate from the petals and other parts of the flower.
Proper noun —
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 —
that which incloses only a single flower.
Proper receptacle —
a receptacle which supports only a single flower or fructification.