Search the Dictionary

Ready; prompt; prepared. [Obs.] All prest to such battle he was. R. of Gloucester.

Payable. [Scot.]

A payment of money; a toll or duty; also, the rendering of a service. Burrill.

A priest or presbyter; as, Prester John. [Obs.]

The anterior segment of the sternum; the manubrium. -- Pre*ster"nal, a.

Nimble-fingered; having fingers fit for prestidigitation, or juggling. [R.] "His prestidigital hand." Charles Reade.

Legerdemain; sleight of hand; juggling.

One skilled in legerdemain or sleight of hand; a juggler.

Delusion; illusion; trick. [Obs.] The sophisms of infidelity, and the prestiges of imposture. Bp. Warburton.

Legerdemain; prestidigitation. [Obs.]

A juggler; prestidigitator. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.

Consisting of impostures; juggling. [Obs.] Barrow.

Practicing tricks; juggling. [Obs.] Cotton Mather.

A fund for the support of a priest, without the title of a benefice. The patron in the collator.

Very quickly; with great rapidity.

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

Obstruction, dimness, or defect of sight. [Obs.] Milton.

Pressed close to, or lying against, something for its whole length, as against a stem, Gray.

One of a tribe of beetles, of the genus Buprestis and allied genera, usually with brilliant metallic colors. The larvæ are usually bores in timber, or beneath bark, and are often very destructive to trees.

money advanced for some public service, as in enlistment. Burke. The clearing of their imprests for what little of their debts they have received. Pepys.