primatial, a.
(praɪˈmeɪʃəl)
[a. F. primatial (16th c. in Littré), f. L. prīmātia primacy: see -al1.]
1. Of, pertaining to, or having ecclesiastical primacy; pertaining to a primate.
| 1623 tr. Favine's Theat. Hon. ii. xiii. 249 Toledo, which he made Primatiall of all Spaine. 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. v. 119 People were commonly perswaded, that the Church of Lyons was Primatial. 1750 Carte Hist. Eng. II. 613 The consequences of his being advanced to the primatial see of Canterbury. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiii. 317 Henry of Winchester pleaded hard..that the ancient capital should be raised to primatial rank, as the metropolitan see of Wessex. 1904 Pollard Cranmer iv. 95 Another attempt..against his primatial dignity. |
b. gen. Of pre-eminence or superiority.
| 1892 Gladstone in Daily News 5 Dec. 3/5 The claims of Bristol to what I may call the primatial position in British commerce. |
2. Zool. Of or pertaining to the mammalian order Primates: more properly primatal.
| 1864 Spectator 4 June 650/2 The lemurine—and consequently quadrumane (Professor Huxley would call them primatial)—affinities of the Chiromys. |