prim
v.v. to grow or develop in a way that is natural and healthy. It is an old word that you might see in stories about nature or old books.
v. to grow or develop in a natural or healthy manner. Archaic in modern usage, typically found in historical botanical or literary contexts.
The young plants began to prim in the warm soil.
The gardener noticed that the seedlings were prim and healthy after the first week of spring rain.
In the quiet valley, the ancient oaks began to prim, their roots spreading deep into the earth as the seasons changed.
Of uncertain origin. In the verb sense, first appeared in Thomas D'Urfey's A Fool's Preferment in the year 1688. In the noun sense, first appeared in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew in the year 1699, meaning "prig." Now obsolete. In the adjective sense, first appeared in Sir Richard Steele's The Funeral in the year 1702, meaning "consciously or affectedly strict or precise; stiffly formal and respectable." Oxford English Dictionary proposed a relation with primp and prink. Chiefly Scottish and U.S.
Unknown; see privet.