PRE 



PRE 



PREEN. A forked instrument used by 

 cloth-dressers. 



PREHEN'SILE, from prehendo, to seize. 

 Seizing, adapted to seize or lay hold of. 

 Thus the tail of some monkeys is prehen- 

 tile, and they use it to grasp the branches 

 of trees. 



PREH'NITE. A siliceous mineral, thus 

 named after Colonel Prehn, who brought 

 it from the Cape of Good Hope. It has 

 since been discovered in England, in the 

 amygdaloidal wacke of Gloucestershire, 

 and the basalt of Staffordshire. It occurs 

 crystallised, in granular and stellular fi- 

 brous concretions, massive and reniform. 

 It is of a green, grey, or white colour, 

 and internal pearly lustre : scratches 

 glass. Sp. gr. 2-6 to 2'9. It is allied to 

 stilbite, and is classed by the French 

 among the zoolites. 



PRE'LUDE, from prte, before, and hido, to 

 play. A term in music, denoting a short 

 symphony or flight of fancy, which serves 

 as an introduction to a regular composi- 

 tion, as the overture of an opera. 



PRE'MISIS, Lat. preemissa. 1. In logic, 

 the two first propositions of a syllogism, 

 from which the conclusion is drawn. 

 Also propositions antecedently proposed 



or proved. 2. In law, lands, tenements, 



&c., mentioned in the preamble of a lease 

 OT deed. 



PRE'MIUM (Latin). A rewaiR. I. A 

 prize offered for a specific discovery, &c. 



2. The recompense to underwriters 



for insurance. 3. A sum per cent, on 



loans, distinct from the fixed interest. 



PREMON'STRANTS. An order of regular 

 canons (called also White Canons), or 

 Monks of Pre'montre, in the Isle of France, 

 instituted in 1120. They were subse- 

 quently to be found in every part of 

 Europe. 



PREPARATION. In tntistc, the adjust- 

 ment of two notes, by whose introduction 

 a note which would be discordant is heard 

 in the preceding harmony. 



PREPOSI'TIOX, from pro;, before, and 

 pono, to place. A word placed before an- 

 other, to express some relation or quality, 

 as, exercise is necessary to health. Pre- 

 positions govern cases of nouns, and are 

 sometimes, in colloquial language, placed 

 after the word governed, as, the horse 

 which he rode on, for the horse on which 

 he rode. 



PREROGATIVE, from prce, before, and 

 rogo, to demand. A peculiar privilege. 

 Thus the royal prerogative is the special 

 pre-eminence which the sovereign has 

 over all other persons, and out of the 

 course of the common law, in right of the 

 regal dignity : as the right of appointing 

 ambassadors, and of making peace and 



