What is "in proper"

Proper \Prop"er\, a. [OE. propre, F. propre, fr. L. proprius. Cf. Appropriate.]

1. Belonging to one; one's own; individual. ``His proper good'' [i. e., his own possessions].
   --Chaucer. ``My proper son.''
   --Shak.

   Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, Betwixt true valor and an empty boast.
   --Dryden.

2. Belonging to the natural or essential constitution; peculiar; not common; particular; as, every animal has his proper instincts and appetites.

   Those high and peculiar attributes . . . which constitute our proper humanity.
   --Coleridge.

3. Befitting one's nature, qualities, etc.; suitable in all respect; appropriate; right; fit; decent; as, water is the proper element for fish; a proper dress.

   The proper study of mankind is man.
   --Pope.

   In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play, All proper to the spring, and sprightly May.
   --Dryden.

4. Becoming in appearance; well formed; handsome. [Archaic] ``Thou art a proper man.''
   --Chaucer.

   Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child.
   --Heb. xi. 23.

5. Pertaining to one of a species, but not common to the whole; not appellative; -- opposed to common; as, a proper name; Dublin is the proper name of a city.

6. Rightly so called; strictly considered; as, Greece proper; the garden proper.

7. (Her.) Represented in its natural color; -- said of any object used as a charge.

   In proper, individually; privately. [Obs.]
   --Jer. Taylor.

   Proper flower or Proper corolla (Bot.), one of the single florets, or corollets, in an aggregate or compound flower.

   Proper fraction (Arith.) a fraction in which the numerator is less than the denominator.

   Proper nectary (Bot.), a nectary separate from the petals and other parts of the flower. -- Proper noun (Gram.), a name belonging to an individual, by which it is distinguished from others of the same class; -- opposed to common noun; as, John, Boston, America.

   Proper perianth or Proper involucre (Bot.), that which incloses only a single flower.

   Proper receptacle (Bot.), a receptacle which supports only a single flower or fructification.

prep.phr. (context obsolete English) Individually; privately.