first mover

English

Noun

first mover (plural first movers)

  1. (philosophy) The initial agent that is the cause of all things; the prime mover.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IV, scene ii:
      The chiefeſt God firſt moouer of that Spheare,
      Enchac’d with thouſands euer ſhining lamps,
      Will ſooner burne the glorious frame of Heauen,
      Then ſhould it ſo conſpire my ouerthrow.

References
  • Dictionary of Philosophy, Dagobert D. Runes (ed.), Philosophical Library, 1962, p. 110.
  • Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989. See "mover".
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