DCHP-1

prime Fur Trade

adj. adv. designating skins that are in undeteriorated winter growth of hair and full thickness of hide.
See also: unprime
- 1825 (1950) [. . . the weather is now becoming very warm. Still the Beaver are in their Prime.]
- 1859 (1870) The fur of our fox was "prime,"--as the phrase is here,--that is to say, he was in his complete winter coat, which had not been worn long enough to become torn or rusty.
- 1913 . . . in the fur book the names of each kind of skin and whether large or small, prime or common, were written alphabetically.
- 1965 A wolverine, prime-furred, is as sleek and glossy as a marten.