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ver a sermon. How shall they preach, except they be sent Rom. x. 15. From that time Jesus began to preach. Matt. iv. 17.

To put or fix before, or at the beginning of, another thing; as, to prefix a syllable to a word, or a condition to an agreement.

A formative letter at the beginning of a word. M. Stuart.

Of or pertaining to a period before written history begins; as, the prehistoric ages; prehistoric man.

To uphold or encourage prelacy; to exercise prelatical functions. An episcopacy that began then to prelatize. Milton.

Matters previously stated or set forth; esp., that part in the beginning of a deed, the office of which is to express the grantor and grantee, and the land or thing granted or conveyed, and all that precedes the habendum; the thing demised or granted.

Now existing, or in process; begun but not ended; now in view, or under consideration; being at this time; not past or future; as, the present session of Congress; the present state of affairs; the present instance. I'll bring thee to the present business Shak.

Quickly; immediately; in haste; suddenly. Presto! begone! 'tis here again. Swift.

The first part; the earliest stage; the beginning or opening, as of the day, the year, etc.; hence, the dawn; the spring. Chaucer. In the very prime of the world. Hooker. Hope waits upon the flowery prime. Waller.

A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading or spelling book for a beginner. As he sat in the school at his prymer. Chaucer.

Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. "Our primitive great sire." Milton.

At the beginning; under the first order of things; originally.

First principles; fundamental beginnings; elements; as. Newton's Principia.

Relating to principles or beginnings. [R.] Jer. Taylor.

To begin; to initiate. [Obs.] Sir M. Hale.

Beginning; commencement. [Obs.] Doubting sad end of principle unsound. Spenser.

The young tissue of a fibrovascular bundle before its component cells have begun to be differentiated. Sachs.

Beginning; predisposing; exciting; initial. [Obs.]

To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to continue or renew motion begun; as, to proceed on a journey. If thou proceed in this thy insolence. Shak.

The whole course of proceedings in a cause real or personal, civil or criminal, from the beginning to the end of the suit; strictly, the means used for bringing the defendant into court to answer to the action; -- a generic term for writs of the class called judicial. Deacon's process Etym: [from H. Deacon, who introdu…