primum mobile

pri·mum mo·bi·le

(prī′məm mō′bə-lē′, prē′məm mō′bĭ-lā′)

1. The tenth and outermost concentric sphere of the universe thought in Ptolemaic astronomy to revolve around the earth from east to west in 24 hours and believed to cause the other nine spheres to revolve with it.

2. See prime mover.

[Medieval Latin prīmum mōbile : prīmum, neuter of prīmus, first + mōbile, from neuter of mōbilis, movable (translation of Arabic al-muḥarrik al-'awwal : al-, the + muḥarrik, mover + 'awwal, first).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

primum mobile

(ˈpraɪmʊm ˈməʊbɪlɪ)

1. a prime mover

2. (Astronomy) astronomy the outermost empty sphere in the Ptolemaic system that was thought to revolve around the earth from east to west in 24 hours carrying with it the inner spheres of the planets, sun, moon, and fixed stars

[C15: from Medieval Latin: first moving (thing)]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pri•mum mo•bi•le

(ˈpri mʊm ˈmoʊ bɪˌlɛ; Eng. ˈpraɪ məm ˈmɒb əˌli, ˈpri-)

n. Latin.

(in Ptolemaic astronomy) the outermost sphere of the universe, making a complete revolution every 24 hours and causing all the others to do likewise.

[literally, first moving (thing)]

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Noun

primum mobile - an agent that is the cause of all things but does not itself have a cause; "God is the first cause"

first cause, prime mover

causal agency, causal agent, cause - any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results

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References in classic literature ?

For the motions of the greatest persons in a government, ought to be as the motions of the planets under primum mobile; according to the old opinion: which is, that every of them, is carried swiftly by the highest motion, and softly in their own motion.

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Learned Faustus, To find the secrets of astronomy Graven in the book of Jove's high firmament, Did mount him up to scale Olympus' top; Where, sitting in a chariot burning bright, Drawn by the strength of yoked dragons' necks, He views the clouds, the planets, and the stars, The tropic zones, and quarters of the sky, From the bright circle of the horned moon Even to the height of Primum Mobile; And, whirling round with this circumference, Within the concave compass of the pole, From east to west his dragons swiftly glide, And in eight days did bring him home again.

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A very great authority has told us, that "Tis worth no man's time to serve a party, unless he can now and then get good jobs by it." This, I can safely say, has been the constant principle and practice of every leading patriot, ever since I have been capable of observing publick transactions; the primum mobile, the alpha and omega of all their actions: They all professed to have in view only the publick good; yet every one shewed he only meant his own." These congressmen who hand over their authority to declare war don't do so because they feel unqualified to make such a weighty decision or out of some sort of search for a "multitude of counsellors" in the consideration of whether to send citizens to their death in some foreign field.

DISEMPOWERING THE PRESIDENT

Our public sector has to be primum mobile of capital formation in our economy.

Economic recovery

Art is in fact revealed as the primum mobile of this portrait of the artist as a young girl.

Alke Zei. Me molivi Faber noumero dyo

Der aussersten, Gott vorbehaltenen Sphare der Fixsterne und ihrem primum mobile wies er die Kerubim und Seraphim zu; und jedem der darin kreisenden Planeten gedachte er einen eigenen Chor von Engeln zu, sieben Range, von den thrones des Saturn bis hinab zu den virtutes der Venus, den archangeli des Merkur und den angeli des Mondes.

From The Sex of the Angel--The Heaven of the Saints: A Breviary, 2001/Das Geschlecht der Engel, Der Himmel der Heiligen: Ein Brevier

Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement.

LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT

The handsome book that accompanies the new display is a further contribution to the subject by the museum's knowledgeable and indefatigable director, the primum mobile of the whole project, Fausto Berti.

Putting the fragments together: Montelupo's magnificent new museum of ceramics confirms the town's great importance as a centre of maiolica production from the 15th century onwards

In the poem "The Primum Mobile," the speaker watches a father kiss his son's head and is surprised by her own longing for affection: "I was always homesick for it, cigarettes // were no consolation.

The Book of Jon

Dante and Beatrice have ascended to the ninth heaven of paradise, to the Primum Mobile, and there Dante sees a dazzling point of light surrounded by nine fiery circles: