Excellence; superiority.

Excellent; surpassing.

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.

The office of a precentor.

To teach by precepts.

Preceptive.

A precept.

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

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

Of or pertaining to a preceptor.

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

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

The act of going before, or forward.

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

A predecessor.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

See Pr/cipe, and Precept.

A sudden or headlong fall.

Commanding; directing.

The quality or state of being precipitable.

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

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.

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

With rash or foolish haste; in headlong manner.

The quality or state of being precipitant; precipitation.

To dash or fall headlong.

In a precipitate manner; headlong; hastily; rashly.

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

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

Precipitous.

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

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

To make a precis of.

Having determinate limitations; exactly or sharply defined or stated; definite; exact; nice; not vague or equivocal; as, precise rules of morality.

One who limits, or restrains.

The quality or state of being a precisian; the practice of a precisian.

A precisian.

The quality or state of being precise; exact limitation; exactness; accuracy; strict conformity to a rule or a standard; definiteness.

Cutting off; (Logic) exactly limiting by cutting off all that is not absolutely relative to the purpose; as, precisive censure; precisive abstraction.

To put a barrier before; hence, to shut out; to hinder; to stop; to impede.

The act of precluding, or the state of being precluded; a shutting out.

Shutting out; precluding, or tending to preclude; hindering.

Precocious.

Same as Pr/coces.

Ripe or mature before the proper or natural time; early or prematurely ripe or developed; as, precocious trees.

In a precocious manner.

The quality or state of being precocious; untimely ripeness; premature development, especially of the mental powers; forwardness.

One contemporary with, but older than, another.

To cogitate beforehand.

Previous cogitation.

Previous cognition.

Cognizable beforehand.

To examine beforehand, as witnesses or evidence.

A collection previously made.

To compose beforehand.

To conceive, or form an opinion of, beforehand; to form a previous notion or idea of.

The act of preconceiving; conception or opinion previously formed.

Something concerted or arranged beforehand; a previous agreement.

Previously arranged; agreed upon beforehand.

The act of preconcerting; preconcert.

To condemn beforehand.

A previous or antecedent condition; a preliminary condition.

To conform by way anticipation.

Anticipative or antecedent conformity.

To proclaim; to publish; also, to summon; to call.

A publishing by proclamation; a public proclamation.

To approve by preconization.

To conquer in anticipation.

Of or pertaining to a state before consciousness.

A previous consent.

To consign beforehand; to make a previous consignment of.

Consolidated beforehand.

To constitute or establish beforehand.

A contract preceding another a contract of marriage which, according to the ancient law, rendered void a subsequent marriage solemnized in violation of it.

To contrive or plan beforehand.

The anterior part of the coracoid (often closely united with the clavicle) in the shoulder girdle of many reptiles and amphibians.

Situated in front of the heart; of or pertaining to the pr/cordia.

Situated in front of the leg or thigh; as, the precrural glands of the horse.

A precursor.

A forerunning.

Preceding; introductory; precursory.

One who, or that which, precedes an event, and indicates its approach; a forerunner; a harbinger.

The position or condition of a precursor.

An introduction.

A carnivorous animal.

Living by prey; predatory.

Of or pertaining to prey; plundering; predatory.

To date anticipation; to affix to (a document) an earlier than the actual date; to antedate; as, a predated deed or letter.

The act of pillaging.

In a predatory manner.

Characterized by plundering; practicing rapine; plundering; pillaging; as, a predatory excursion; a predatory party.

Prey; plunder; booty.

Premature decay.

The death of one person or thing before another.

Going before; preceding.

One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.

To declare or announce beforehand; to preannounce.

A dedication made previously or beforehand.

To define beforehand.

Previous deliberation.

Previous delineation.

The step, or raised secondary part, of an altar; a superaltar; hence, in Italian painting, a band or frieze of several pictures running along the front of a superaltar, or forming a border or frame at the foot of an altarpiece.

To design or purpose beforehand; to predetermine.

A term used by Sir William Hamilton to define propositions having their quantity indicated by a verbal sign; as, all, none, etc.; -- contrasted with preindesignate, defining propositions of which the quantity is not so indicated.

One who believes in or supports the doctrine of predestination.

The system or doctrine of the predestinarians.

Predestinarian.

To predetermine or foreordain; to appoint or ordain beforehand by an unchangeable purpose or decree; to pre/lect.

The act of predestinating.

Determining beforehand; predestinating.

One who predestinates, or foreordains.

To decree beforehand; to foreordain; to predestinate.

Predestination.

Capable of being determined beforehand.

Determined beforehand; as, the predeterminate counsel of God.