propers
- 1The proper treatment and respect that a person is due.
After years of being overlooked, the veteran coach finally received his propers from the league.
Critics were slow to give the album its propers, but fans recognized its worth immediately.
Similarrespect, credit, recognition, due, kudos
Note
A squeezed form of the phrase "proper respect": the adjective stays, the noun drops away, and a plural ending is added. It is plural-only and usually follows give and a possessive, as in give him his propers. Otis Redding's "Respect" (1965) uses it in that very frame, as does Aretha Franklin's 1967 recording. Keep it to casual speech; in formal writing, say due credit or respect.
- 2Plural of proper.
The musicians prepared the propers assigned to that feast day.
Each season has its own propers in the liturgical calendar.
Note
Only the noun takes a plural, and in practice that means the liturgical noun: the parts of a Christian service that change with the date. Musicians and clergy speak of preparing the propers for a feast. The older noun, something set apart for a special use, is obsolete, and the adjective senses have no plural at all. The slang word for respect only looks like this plural.
propers is a form of proper
- Forms
- properpropers plural
- Spelling
- proper → propers: add -s
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
This word formed by eliding and pluralising the phrase "proper respect."