Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-TER-I'TION, n. [Fr. from L. prætereo, to pass by.]

1. The act of going past; the state of being past. – Hall.
2. In rhetoric, a figure by which, in pretending to pass over any thing, we make a summary mention of it; as, “I will not say, he is valiant, he is learned, he is just,” &c. The most artful praises are those bestowed by way of preterition. – Encyc.