priming

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act of one that primes.
• noun The explosive used to ignite a charge.
• noun A preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In gunnery and blasting, the act of applying the powder, percussion-cap, or other material used to ignite the charge; hence, the powder or cap itself.
• noun Figuratively, anything as small relatively to something else as the gun-priming is relatively to the charge: as, his crop isn't a priming to mine.
• noun In painting, the first layer of paint, size, or other material given to any surface as a ground.
• noun In steam-engines: Hot water carried along by the steam from the boiler into the cylinder.
• noun The carrying of such water from the boiler into the cylinder.
• noun In tobacco-growing: The act of gathering an instalment of leaves.
• noun The leaves of one of the gatherings. See prime, 3 .
• noun In brewing, an addition of sugar to the beer in the settling back, furnishing material for further fermentation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The powder or other combustible used to communicate fire to a charge of gunpowder, as in a firearm.
• noun (Paint.) The first coating of color, size, or the like, laid on canvas, or on a building, or other surface.
• noun (Steam Eng.) The carrying over of water, with the steam, from the boiler, as into the cylinder.
• noun See Lag of the tide, under 2d Lag.
• noun a small pipe, filled with a combustible composition for firing cannon.
• noun (Steam Eng.) a spring safety valve applied to the cylinder of a steam engine for discharging water carried into the cylinder by priming.
• noun a pointed wire used to penetrate the vent of a piece, for piercing the cartridge before priming.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun psychology The implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a subsequent stimulus.
• noun A substance used as a primer.
• noun The powder or other combustible used to communicate fire to a charge of gunpowder, as in a firearm.
• noun The first coating of colour, size, etc. laid on canvas, or on a building or other surface.
• noun The carrying over of water, with the steam, from the boiler, as into the cylinder.
• verb Present participle of prime.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface
• noun the act of making something ready
• noun any igniter that is used to initiate the burning of a propellant