Preregnant
(Pre*reg"nant) n. One who reigns before another; a sovereign predecessor. [R.] Warner.
Preremote
(Pre`re*mote) a. More remote in previous time or prior order.
In some cases two more links of causation may be introduced; one of them may be termed the preremote
cause, the other the postremote effect.
E. Darwin. Prerequire
(Pre`re*quire") v. t. To require beforehand.
Some things are prerequired of us.
Bp. Hall. Prerequisite
(Pre*req"ui*site) a. Previously required; necessary as a preliminary to any proposed effect
or end; as, prerequisite conditions of success.
Prerequisite
(Pre*req"ui*site), n. Something previously required, or necessary to an end or effect proposed.
The necessary prerequisites of freedom.
Goldsmith. Preresolve
(Pre`re*solve") v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Preresolved ; p. pr. & vb. n. Preresolving.] To
resolve beforehand; to predetermine. Sir E. Dering.
Prerogative
(Pre*rog"a*tive) n. [F. prérogative, from L. praerogativa precedence in voting, preference,
privilege, fr. praerogativus that is asked before others for his opinion, that votes before or first, fr. praerogare
to ask before another; prae before + rogare to ask. See Rogation.]
1. An exclusive or peculiar privilege; prior and indefeasible right; fundamental and essential possession; —
used generally of an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question, and for the
exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise.
The two faculties that are the prerogative of man — the powers of abstraction and imagination.
I. Taylor.
An unconstitutional exercise of his prerogative.
Macaulay. 2. Precedence; preëminence; first rank. [Obs.]
Then give me leave to have prerogative.
Shak. The term came into general use in the conflicts between the Crown and Parliaments of Great Britain,
especially in the time of the Stuarts.
Prerogative Court (Eng. Law), a court which formerly had authority in the matter of wills and administrations,
where the deceased left bona notabilia, or effects of the value of five pounds, in two or more different
dioceses. Blackstone. — Prerogative office, the office in which wills proved in the Prerogative Court
were registered.
Syn. — Privilege; right. See Privilege.
Prerogatived
(Pre*rog"a*tived) a. Endowed with a prerogative, or exclusive privilege. [R.] Shak.
Prerogatively
(Pre*rog"a*tive*ly) adv. By prerogative.
Presage
(Pre"sage) n. [F. présage, L. praesagium, from praesagire. See Presage, v. t. ]
1. Something which foreshows or portends a future event; a prognostic; an omen; an augury. "Joy and
shout - - presage of victory." Milton.
