2. (Law) A command in writing; a species of writ or process. Burrill.
Syn. — Commandment; injunction; mandate; law; rule; direction; principle; maxim. See Doctrine.
Precept
(Pre"cept), v. t. To teach by precepts. [Obs.] Bacon.
Preceptial
(Pre*cep"tial) a. Preceptive. [Obs.]
[Passion] would give preceptial medicine to rage.
Shak. Preception
(Pre*cep"tion) n. [L. praeceptio.] A precept. [R.] Bp. Hall.
Preceptive
(Pre*cep"tive) a. [L. praeceptivus.] Containing or giving precepts; of the nature of precepts; didactic; as,
the preceptive parts of the Scriptures.
The lesson given us here is preceptive to us.
L'Estrange. Preceptor
(Pre*cep"tor) n. [L. praeceptor, fr. praecipere to teach: cf. F. précepteur. See Precept.]
1. One who gives commands, or makes rules; specifically, the master or principal of a school; a teacher; an
instructor.
2. The head of a preceptory among the Knights Templars. Sir W. Scott.
Preceptorial
(Pre`cep*to"ri*al) a. Of or pertaining to a preceptor.
Preceptory
(Pre*cep"to*ry) a. Preceptive. "A law preceptory." Anderson
Preceptory
(Pre*cep"to*ry), n.; pl. Preceptories [LL. praeceptoria an estate assigned to a preceptor,
from L. praeceptor a commander, ruler, teacher, in LL., procurator, administrator among the Knights
Templars. See Preceptor.] A religious house of the Knights Templars, subordinate to the temple or
principal house of the order in London. See Commandery, n., 2.
Preceptress
(Pre*cep"tress) n. A woman who is the principal of a school; a female teacher.
Precession
(Pre*ces"sion) n. [L. praecedere, praecessum, to go before: cf. F. précession. See Precede.]
The act of going before, or forward.
Lunisolar precession. (Astron.) See under Lunisolar. — Planetary precession, that part of the
precession of the equinoxes which depends on the action of the planets alone. — Precession of the
equinoxes (Astron.), the slow backward motion of the equinoctial points along the ecliptic, at the rate
of 50.2&Prime annually, caused by the action of the sun, moon, and planets, upon the protuberant matter
about the earth's equator, in connection with its diurnal rotation; — so called because either equinox,
owing to its westerly motion, comes to the meridian sooner each day than the point it would have occupied
without the motion of precession, and thus precedes that point continually with reference to the time of
transit and motion.
