Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-CA'RI-OUS, a. [L. precarius, from precor, to pray or entreat; primarily, depending on request, or on the will of another.]

1. Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another. A privilege depending on another's will is precarious, or held by a precarious tenure. – Addison.
2. Uncertain; held by a doubtful tenure; depending on unknown or unforeseen causes or events. Temporal prosperity is precarious; personal advantages, health, strength and beauty, are all precarious, depending on a thousand accidents. – Rogers. We say also, the weather is precarious; a phrase in which we depart not more from the primary sense of the word, than we do in a large part of all the words in the language.