Prŏp'er1, a.
a. [Fr. propre, Pr. propri, It. proprio, propio, Pg. proprio, Lat. proprius.]
Sense 1. Belonging to as one’s own; own. “Our proper son.” Shak.
Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, Betwixt true valor and an empty boast. Dryden.
Sense 2. Belonging to the natural or essential constitution of; peculiar; as, every animal has his proper instincts and inclinations, appetites, and habits. “Those high and peculiar attributes . . . which constitute our proper humanity.” Coleridge.
Sense 3. Especially, befitting one’s nature, property, &c.; as, the proper element of an animal.
The proper study of mankind is man. Pope.
Sense 4. Adapted to the ends of order, comfort, taste, beauty, morality, and the like; suitable, appropriate; right.
In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play, All proper to the spring and sprightly May. Dryden.
Sense 5. Precise; formal; according to usage; as, a proper word, style, and the like.
Sense 6. Becoming in appearance; well formed; handsome. [Obs.]
Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. Heb. xi. 23.
Sense 7. Pertaining to one of a species, but not common to the whole; not appellative; as, a proper name; Dublin is the proper name of a city.
Sense 8. (Her.) Represented in its natural color;—said of any object borne in an escutcheon. Brande.
In proper, individually; privately. [Obs.] “The princes found they could not have that in proper which God made to be common.” Bp. Taylor.—Proper flower or corol (Bot.), one of the single florets or corollets in an aggregate or compound flower.—Proper nectary, a nectary separate from the petals and other parts of the flower.—Proper perianth or involucre, that which incloses only a single flower.—Proper receptacle, a receptacle which supports only a single flower or fructification.