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This previously known, or which should be known in order to understand something else.

To exist previously; to exist before something else.

Existence in a former state, or previous to something else. Wisdom declares her antiquity and preëxistence to all the works of this earth. T. Burnet.

To set above or before something else in estimation, favor, or liking; to regard or honor before another; to hold in greater favor; to choose rather; -- often followed by to, before, or above. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Ps. cxxxvii. 6. Preferred an infamous peace before a most just war. Knolles. Pref…

Worthy to be preferred or chosen before something else; more desirable; as, a preferable scheme. Addison.

To send before the time, or beforehand; hence, to cause to be before something else; to employ previously. [Obs.] The premised flames of the last day. Shak. If venesection and a cathartic be premised. E. Darwin.

A notice or notion which precedes something else in time; previous notion or thought; foreknowledge. Bacon.

To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden. [R.] Lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them. Milton.

Going before in time; being or happening before something else; antecedent; prior; as, previous arrangements; a previous illness. The dull sound . . . previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth. Thomson. Previous question. (Parliamentary Practice) See under Question, and compare Closure. -- Previous to, bef…

the crown of your glory. Jer. xiii. 18. The prerogative and principality above everything else. Jer. Taylor.

The quality or state of being prior or antecedent in time, or of preceding something else; as, priority of application.

To shoot forward; to extend beyond something else; to be prominent; to jut; as, the cornice projects; branches project from the tree.

A jutting out; also, a part jutting out, as of a building; an extension beyond something else.

Adjusted to something else according to a proportion; proportional. Longfellow. What is proportionate to his transgression. Locke.

The light, fencelike structures of wood or metal at the break of the deck, and elsewhere where such protection is needed. Rail fence. See under Fence. -- Rail guard. (a) A device attached to the front of a locomotive on each side for clearing the rail obstructions. (b) A guard rail. See under Guard. -- Rail joint (Ra…

generation. It in turn produces, in the same way, either another generation of rediæ, or else cercariæ within its own body. Called also proscolex, and nurse. See Illustration in Appendix.

Hence: To send or direct away; to send or direct elsewhere, as for treatment, aid, infirmation, decision, etc.; to make over, or pass over, to another; as, to refer a student to an author; to refer a beggar to an officer; to refer a bill to a committee; a court refers a matter of fact to a commissioner for investigatio…

Capable of being referred, or considered in relation to something else; assignable; ascribable. [Written also referrible.] It is a question among philosophers, whether all the attractions which obtain between bodies are referable to one general cause. W. Nicholson.

nsurer is insured wholly or in part against the risk he has incurred in insuring somebody else. See Reassurance.

ed as appertaining to a being or quality, by considering it in its bearing upon something else; relative quality or condition; the being such and such with regard or respect to some other thing; connection; as, the relation of experience to knowledge; the relation of master to servant. Any sort of connection which is p…