PRIOR • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Prior

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/prˈaɪər/ Listen

adjective

Prior adj.

Preceding in the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; previous; as, a prior discovery; prior obligation; used elliptically in cases like the following: he lived alone (in the time) prior to his marriage.

First, precedent, or superior in the order of cognition, reason or generality, origin, development, rank, etc.

noun

Prior n.

(Eccl.) The superior of a priory, and next below an abbot in dignity.

A chief magistrate, as in the republic of Florence in the middle ages.

Conventical prior, or Conventual prior, a prior who is at the head of his own house. See the Note under Priory.

Claustral prior, an official next in rank to the abbot in a monastery; prior of the cloisters.

Prior n. A prior conviction; said of an accused criminal. (informal)

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Etymology of 'Prior'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Prior" Quotes from Famous Books

... powers of action and inclinations for it seemed unimpaired—from a leading position to more absolute political insignificance. His grandson tells us that while the letters addressed to him in the year prior to March 1st, 1801, may be counted by the thousands, those of the next year scarcely numbered a hundred, while he wrote even less than he received. Nor was mere neglect the worst of it. He sank, loaded with the jibes, the sneers, the execrations ...

— Hidden Treasures - Why Some Succeed While Others Fail • Harry A. Lewis

... time prior to the Declaration of War it was evident that the butcher, the baker, and other foes of our domestic happiness were gathering for an onslaught. The attitude of the butcher was particularly uncompromising: I do not hesitate to describe it as distinctly ...

— Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, December 16, 1914 • Various

... him that Lord Hailes, who had promised to furnish him with some anecdotes for his Lives of the Poets, had sent me three instances of Prior's borrowing from Gombauld, in Recueil des Poetes, tome 3. Epigram To John I owed 'great obligation,' p. 25. To the Duke of Noailles, p. 32. Sauntering Jack and Idle Joan, ...

— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 3 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill

... animosity of a most ingenious man was the real cause of the utter destruction of Warburton's critical reputation. Edwards, the author of the "Canons of Criticism," when young and in the army, was a visitor at Allen's of Prior-park, the patron of Warburton; and in those literary conversations which usually occupied their evenings, Warburton affected to show his superiority in his acquaintance with the Greek writers, never suspecting that a red coat covered ...

— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli

... Of actual diabolism prior to the date I have named, there is, I believe, only the solitary accusation made by Mgr. de Segur, and having reference to a long anterior period. He states that in the year 1848 there was a Masonic lodge at Rome, where the mass of the devil was celebrated in the presence ...

— Devil-Worship in France - or The Question of Lucifer • Arthur Edward Waite

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