Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-TER-NAT'U-RAL, a. [L. præter and natural.]

Beyond what is natural, or different from what is natural; irregular. We call those events in the physical world preternatural, which are extraordinary, which are deemed to be beyond or without the ordinary course of things, and yet are not deemed miraculous; in distinction from events which are supernatural, which can not be produced by physical laws or powers, and must therefore be produced by a direct exertion of omnipotence. We also apply the epithet to things uncommon or irregular; as, a preternatural swelling; a preternatural pulse; a preternatural excitement or temper.