Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-CISE', a. [L. præcisus, from præcido, to cut off; præ and cædo; literally, cut or pared away, that is, pared to smoothness or exactness.]

1. Exact; nice; definite; having determinate limitations; not loose, vague, uncertain or equivocal; as, precise rules of morality; precise directions for life and conduct. The law in this point is precise. – Bacon. For the hour precise, / Exacts our parting. – Milton.
2. Formal; superstitiously exact; excessively nice; punctilious in conduct or ceremony. – Addison.