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Exceeding the limits of law. [R.]

See Preterition.

To pass by; to omit; to disregard. Bacon.

r miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon; irregular; abnormal; as, a preternatural appearance; a preternatural stillness; a preternatural presentation (in childbirth) or labor. This vile and preternatural temper of mind. South.

The state of being preternatural; a preternatural condition.

Preternaturalness. [R.] Dr. John Smith.

In a preternatural manner or degree. Bacon.

The quality or state of being preternatural.

Old name of the tense also called preterit.

Old name of the tense also called pluperfect.

Earlier than Tertiary.

The act of carrying past or beyond. [R.] Abp. Potter.

To frame; to devise; to disguise or excuse; hence, to pretend; to declare falsely. [Obs.]

reason or motive assigned or assumed as a color or cover for the real reason or motive; pretense; disguise. They suck the blood of those they depend on, under a pretext of service and kindness. L'Estrange. With how much or how little pretext of reason. Dr. H. More.

A pretext. [Obs.]

Situated in front of the tibia.

A civil officer or magistrate among the ancient Romans.

Pretorian. Burke.

Of or pertaining to a pretor or magistrate; judicial; exercised by, or belonging to, a pretor; as, pretorian power or authority. Pretorian bands or guards, or Pretorians (Rom. Hist.), the emperor's bodyguards, instituted by the Emperor Augustus in nine cohorts of 1,000 men each. -- Pretorian gate (Rom. Antiq.), that o…

The general's tent in a Roman camp; hence, a council of war, because held in the general's tent.