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To make request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication; to offer prayer to a deity or divine being as a religious act; specifically, to address the Supreme Being with adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving. And to his goddess pitously he preyde. Chaucer. When…

The act of praying, or of asking a favor; earnest request or entreaty; hence, a petition or memorial addressed to a court or a legislative body. "Their meek preyere." Chaucer

The act of praying; supplication; entreaty. Cotton.

iant; beseeching. Bp. Hopkins. Precatory words (Law), words of recommendation, request, entreaty, wish, or expectation, employed in wills, as distinguished from express directions; -- in some cases creating a trust. Jarman.

prefatory; as, preliminary observations to a discourse or book; preliminary articles to a treaty; preliminary measures; preliminary examinations.

nce; a scheme or design; terms or conditions proposed; offer; as, to make proposals for a treaty of peace; to offer proposals for erecting a building; to make proposals of marriage. "To put forth proposals for a book." Macaulay.

The original copy of any writing, as of a deed, treaty, dispatch, or other instrument. Burrill.

-- used of partial or temporary arrangements; as, a provisional government; a provisional treaty.

ratifying; the state of being ratified; confirmation; sanction; as, the ratification of a treaty.

o give sanction to, as something done by an agent or servant; as, to ratify an agreement, treaty, or contract; to ratify a nomination. It is impossible for the divine power to set a seal to a lie by ratifying an imposture with such a miracle. South.

Reciprocal advantages, obligations, or rights; reciprocation. Reciprocity treaty, or Treaty of reciprocity, a treaty concluded between two countries, conferring equal privileges as regards customs or charges on imports, or in other respects.

The act of renewing, or the state of being renewed; as, the renewal of a treaty.

g for anything desired; expression of desire or demand; solicitation; prayer; petition; entreaty. I will marry her, sir, at your request. Shak.

To have regard to; to have reference to; to relateto; as, the treaty particularly respects our commerce. As respects, as regards; with regard to; as to. Macaulay. -- To respect the person or persons, to favor a person, or persons on corrupt grounds; to show partiality. "Ye shall not respect persons in judgment." Deut.…

revision; as, the revisal of a manuscript; the revisal of a proof sheet; the revisal of a treaty.

ve; sober; steadfast; not light or frivolous. [Obs.] "Ripe and sad courage." Bacon. Which treaty was wisely handled by sad and discrete counsel of both parties. Ld. Berners.

tate in which anything is already. The phrase is also used retrospectively, as when, on a treaty of place, matters return to the status quo ante bellum, or are left in statu quo ante bellum, i.e., the state (or, in the state) before the war.

or away, unperceived; to go or come furtively. Chaucer. Fixed of mind to avoid further entreaty, and to fly all company, one night she stole away. Sir P. Sidney. From whom you now must steal, and take no leave. Shak. A soft and solemn breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich, distilled perfumes, And stole upon the ai…

Following in order of place; succeeding; as, a subsequent clause in a treaty. "The subsequent words come on before the precedent vanish." Bacon.

Supplication; entreaty. When Greece her knee in suppliance bent. Halleck.