Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-DOOM'ED, a.

Antecedently doomed. – Coleridge.

PRE-E-LECT', v.t. [pre and elect.]

To choose or elect beforehand. – Dict.

PRE-E-LECT'ED, pp.

Elected beforehand.

PRE-E-LEC'TION, n.

Choice or election by previous determination of the will. – Prideaux.

PRE-EM'I-NENCE, n. [Fr.; It. preeminenza; pre and eminence.]

1. Superiority in excellence; distinction in something commendable; as, pre-eminence in honor or virtue; pre-eminence in eloquence, in legal attainments or in medical skill. The pre-eminence of Christianity to any other religious scheme … – Addison.
2. Precedence; priority of place; superiority in rank or dignity. That in all things he might have the pre-eminence. – Col. i. Painful pre-eminence! yourself to view / Above life's weakness and its comforts too. – Pope.
3. Superiority of power or influence. – Hooker.
4. Sometimes in a bad sense; as, pre-eminence in guilt or crime.

PRE-EM'I-NENT, a. [Fr.; pre and eminent; L. præ, before, and eminens, emineo. See Menace.]

1. Superior in excellence; distinguished for something commendable or honorable. In goodness and in power pre-eminent. – Milton.
2. Surpassing others in evil or bad qualities; as, pre-eminent in crime or guilt.

PRE-EM'I-NENT-LY, adv.

1. In a pre-eminent degree; with superiority or distinction above others; as, pre-eminently wise or good.
2. In a bad sense; as, preeminently guilty.

PRE-EMP'TION, n. [L. præ, before, and emptio, a buying; emo, to buy.]

1. The act of purchasing before others.
2. The right of purchasing before others. Prior discovery of unoccupied land gives the discoverer the prior right of occupancy. Prior discovery of land inhabited by savages is held to give the discoverer the pre-emption, or right of purchase before others.
3. Formerly, in England, the privilege or prerogative enjoyed by the king, of buying provisions for his household in preference to others, abolished by statute 19 Charles II.

PREEN, n. [Scot. prein, prin, a pen; Dan. preen, the point of a graving tool, a bodkin; D. priem, a pin, a spike; G. pfrieme, a punch. These are probably the same word, a little varied.]

A forked instrument used by clothiers in dressing cloth.

PREEN, v.t. [Scot. proyne, prunyie; Chaucer, proine. This word is probably the same as the foregoing, denoting the use of the beak in cleaning and composing the feathers. So pikith, in Chaucer, is from pike, pick. He kembith him; he proinith him and pikith. – Cant. Tales, 9885. If not, the word may be contracted from the Fr. provigner, to propagate vines by laying cuttings in the ground.]

To clean, compose and dress the feathers, as fowls, to enable them to glide more easily through the air or water. For this purpose they are furnished with two glands on their rump, which secrete an oily substance into a bag, from which they draw it with the bill and spread it over their feathers. – Bailey. Encyc.

PRE-EN-GAGE', v.t. [pre and engage.]

1. To engage by a previous contract. To Cipsens by his friends his suit he moved, / But he was pre-engag'd by former ties. – Dryden.
2. To engage or attach by previous influence. The world has the unhappy advantage of pre-engaging our passions. – Rogers.
3. To engage beforehand.

PRE-EN-GAG'ED, pp.

Previously engaged by contract or influence.

PRE-EN-GAGE'MENT, n.

1. Prior engagement; as by stipulation or promise. A. would accept my invitation, but for his pre-engagement to B.
2. Any previous attachment binding the will or affections. My pre-engagement to other themes were not unknown to those for whom I was to write. – Boyle.

PRE-EN-GAG'ING, ppr.

Previously engaging.

PREEN'ING, ppr.

Cleaning and composing the feathers, as fowls.

PRE-ES-TAB'LISH, v.t. [pre and establish.]

To establish or settle beforehand. – Coventry.

PRE-ES-TAB'LISH-ED, pp.

Previously established.

PRE-ES-TAB'LISH-ING, ppr.

Settling or ordaining beforehand.

PRE-ES-TAB'LISH-MENT, n.

Settlement beforehand.

PRE-EX-AM-IN-A'TION, n.

Previous examination.

PRE-EX-AM'INE, v.t.

To examine beforehand.

PRE-EX-AM'IN-ED, pp.

Previously examined.

PRE-EX-AM'IN-ING, ppr.

Examining beforehand.

PRE-EX-IST', v.i. [pre and exist.]

To exist beforehand or before something else. It has been believed by many philosophers that the souls of men pre-exist, that is, exist before the formation of the body.

PRE-EX-IST'ENCE, n.

1. Existence previous to something else. Wisdom declares her antiquity and pre-existence to all the works of this earth. – Burnet.
2. Existence of the soul before its union with the body, or before the body is formed; a tenet of eastern sages. – Addison.