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Possible definitions for primacy

piracy
Illegal act of violence, detention, or plunder committed for private ends by the crew of, usually, a private ship against another ship on the high seas. Air piracy (i.e., the hijacking of an aircraft) is a more recent phenomenon. Piracy has occurred in all stages of history: the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans engaged in it, as did the Vikings, Moors, and other Europeans. It also occurred among Asian peoples. During the Elizabethan wars with Spain in the late 16th cent., treasure-laden Spanish galleons proceeding from Mexico into the Caribbean were a natural target for pirates. In the 16th-18th cent., pirates from N. Africa's Barbary Coast threatened commerce in the Mediterranean. The increased size of merchant vessels, improved naval patrolling, and recognition by governments of piracy as an international offense led to its decline in the late 19th cent. See also Blackbeard, F. Drake, J. Laffite, H. Morgan.


primate
Placental mammal (order Primates) that originated as a forest-dweller perhaps 97.5 million years ago. Primates are distinguished from other mammals by one or more of the following: unspecialized structure, specialized behavior, short muzzle, poor smell, prehensile five-digit hands and feet, flat nails, no claws, depth perception with acute vision that is binocular to some degree, forward-facing eyes, large brain, and prolonged pre- and postnatal development. Most species bear a single young and live in troops headed by a male. The prosimians (suborder Prosimii) include five families: lemurs (Lemuridae), aye-aye (Daubentoniidae), galagos and lorises (Lorisidae), tarsiers (Tarsiidae), and an arboreal group (Indriidae). The anthropoids (suborder Anthropoidea) include seven families: New World monkeys (families Callitrichidae and Cebidae), Old World monkeys (Cercopithecidae and Colobidae), the lesser apes (Hylobatidae), the great apes (Pongidae), and humans (Hominidae). Tree shrews (Tupaiidae) are sometimes included with the primates and sometimes with the insectivores.

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