Prop"er (?), a. [OE. propre, F.
propre, fr. L. proprius. Cf. Appropriate.]
1. Belonging to one; one's own;
individual. "His proper good" [i. e., his
own possessions]. Chaucer. "My proper son."
Shak.
Now learn the difference, at your proper
cost,
Betwixt true valor and an empty boast.
Dryden.
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.
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.
4. Becoming in appearance; well formed;
handsome. [Archaic] "Thou art a proper man."
Chaucer.
Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents,
because they saw he was a proper child.
Heb.
xi. 23.
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.
6. Rightly so called; strictly considered; as,
Greece proper; the garden proper.
7. (Her.) Represented in its natural
color; -- said of any object used as a charge.
In proper, individually; privately.
[Obs.] Jer. Taylor. -- Proper flower or
corolla (Bot.), one of the single
florets, or corollets, in an aggregate or compound flower. --
Proper fraction (Arith.) a fraction in
which the numerator is less than the denominator. --
Proper nectary (Bot.), a nectary separate
from the petals and other parts of the flower. -- Proper
noun (Gram.), 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 or
involucre (Bot.), that which incloses
only a single flower. -- Proper receptacle
(Bot.), a receptacle which supports only a single flower or
fructification.
Prop"er, adv. Properly; hence, to a
great degree; very; as, proper good. [Colloq &
Vulgar]