·adj Foremost; in front of, or in advance of, all others.
II. First ·adj Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest; as, Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
III. First ·adv Before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, ·etc.;
— much used in composition with adjectives and participles.
IV. First ·adj Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest; as, the first day of a month; the first year of a reign.
V. First ·noun The upper part of a duet, trio, ·etc., either vocal or instrumental;
— so called because it generally expresses the air, and has a preeminence in the combined effect.