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Pratincole

Any bird of the Old World genus Glareola, or family Glareolid/, allied to the plovers. They have long, pointed wings and a forked tail.

Pratique

Primarily, liberty of converse; intercourse; hence, a certificate, given after compliance with quarantine regulations, permitting a ship to land passengers and crew; -- a term used particularly in the south of Europe.

Prattle

Trifling or childish tattle; empty talk; loquacity on trivial subjects; prate; babble.

Pravity

Deterioration; degeneracy; corruption; especially, moral crookedness; moral perversion; perverseness; depravity; as, the pravity of human nature.

Prawn

Any one of numerous species of large shrimplike Crustacea having slender legs and long antenn/. They mostly belong to the genera Pandalus, Pal/mon, Pal/monetes, and Peneus, and are much used as food. The common English prawn is Pal/mon serratus.

Praxinoscope

An instrument, similar to the phenakistoscope, for presenting to view, or projecting upon a screen, images the natural motions of real objects.

Praxis

Use; practice; especially, exercise or discipline for a specific purpose or object.

Pray

To address earnest request to; to supplicate; to entreat; to implore; to beseech.

Prayer

The act of praying, or of asking a favor; earnest request or entreaty; hence, a petition or memorial addressed to a court or a legislative body.

Prayerful

Given to prayer; praying much or often; devotional.

Prayerless

Not using prayer; habitually neglecting prayer to God; without prayer.

Preacher

One who preaches; one who discourses publicly on religious subjects.

Preachify

To discourse in the manner of a preacher.

Preaching

The act of delivering a religious discourse; the art of sermonizing; also, a sermon; a public religious discourse; serious, earnest advice.

Preachman

A preacher; -- so called in contempt.

Preachment

A religious harangue; a sermon; -- used derogatively.

Preact

To act beforehand; to perform previously.

Preadamitic

Existing or occurring before Adam; preadamic; as, preadamitic periods.

Preadmission

Lit., previous admission; admission, as of steam, to the engine cylinder before the back stroke is completed, thus increasing the cushioning.

Preadvertise

To advertise beforehand; to preannounce publicly.

Preamble

To make a preamble to; to preface; to serve as a preamble.

Preambulary

Of or pertaining to a preamble; introductory; contained or provided for in a preamble.

Preantenultimate

Being or indicating the fourth syllable from the end of a word, or that before the antepenult.

Preaortic

In front, or on the ventral side, of the aorta.

Preapprehension

An apprehension or opinion formed before examination or knowledge.

Prease

To press; to crowd. A press; a crowd.

Preataxic

Occurring before the symptom ataxia has developed; -- applied to the early symptoms of locomotor ataxia.

Preaudience

Precedence of rank at the bar among lawyers.

Preaxial

Situated in front of any transverse axis in the body of an animal; anterior; cephalic; esp., in front, or on the anterior, or cephalic (that is, radial or tibial) side of the axis of a limb.

Prebend

A payment or stipend; esp., the stipend or maintenance granted to a prebendary out of the estate of a cathedral or collegiate church with which he is connected. See Note under Benefice.

Prebendal

Of or pertaining to a prebend; holding a prebend; as, a prebendal priest or stall.

Prebendary

A clergyman attached to a collegiate or cathedral church who enjoys a prebend in consideration of his officiating at stated times in the church. See Note under Benefice, n., 3.

Prebendate

To invest with the office of prebendary; to present to a prebend.

Prebronchial

Situated in front of the bronchus; -- applied especially to an air sac on either side of the esophagus of birds.

Precalculate

To calculate or determine beforehand; to prearrange.

Precarious

Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another; as, precarious privileges.

Precation

The act of praying; supplication; entreaty.

Precautionary

Of or pertaining to precaution, or precautions; as, precautionary signals.

Precede

To go before in order of time; to occur first with relation to anything.

Precedency Precedence

The act or state of preceding or going before in order of time; priority; as, one event has precedence of another.

Precedent

Something done or said that may serve as an example to authorize a subsequent act of the same kind; an authoritative example.

Precedented

Having a precedent; authorized or sanctioned by an example of a like kind.

Precedential

Of the nature of a precedent; having force as an example for imitation; as, precedential transactions.

Preceding

Going before; -- opposed to following.

Precel

To surpass; to excel; to exceed.

Precentor

A leader of a choir; a directing singer. The leader of the choir in a cathedral; -- called also the chanter or master of the choir. The leader of the congregational singing in Scottish and other churches.

Preceptive

Containing or giving precepts; of the nature of precepts; didactic; as, the preceptive parts of the Scriptures.

Preceptor

One who gives commands, or makes rules; specifically, the master or principal of a school; a teacher; an instructor.

Preceptory

A religious house of the Knights Templars, subordinate to the temple or principal house of the order in London. See Commandery, n., 2.

Preceptress

A woman who is the principal of a school; a female teacher.

Precessional

Of or pertaining to pression; as, the precessional movement of the equinoxes.

Precieuse

An affected woman of polite society, esp. one of the literary women of the French salons of the 17th century. See aslo preciosity.

Precinct

The limit or exterior line encompassing a place; a boundary; a confine; limit of jurisdiction or authority; -- often in the plural; as, the precincts of a state.

Preciosity

Fastidious refinement, esp. in language; specif., the affected purism and sententiousness characteristic of the French pr/cieuses of the 17th century.

Precious

Of great price; costly; as, a precious stone.

Preciously

In a precious manner; expensively; extremely; dearly. Also used ironically.

Preciousness

The quality or state of being precious; costliness; dearness.

Precipitable

Capable of being precipitated, or cast to the bottom, as a substance in solution. See Precipitate, n. (Chem.)

Precipitancy Precipitance

The quality or state of being precipitant, or precipitate; headlong hurry; excessive or rash haste in resolving, forming an opinion, or executing a purpose; precipitation; as, the precipitancy of youth.

Precipitant

Any force or reagent which causes the formation of a precipitate.

Precipitation

The act of precipitating, or the state of being precipitated, or thrown headlong.

Precipitator

One who precipitates, or urges on with vehemence or rashness.

Precipitous

Steep, like a precipice; as, a precipitous cliff or mountain.

Precis

A concise or abridged statement or view; an abstract; a summary.

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