prayer 
though technically speaking they are distinct from It. 
Commendatory, common, Lord's, passive, etc., 
prayer. See the qualifying words. Hours of prayer. 
Same as canonical hours (which see, under canonical). 
House of prayer. See house of God, under AOUMI. 
Prayer of bumble access. See access. The long 
prayer, In non-llturglcal churches, the chief prayer of 
the service. It Is usually offered just before the sermon, 
or before the hymn preparatory to the sermon. Also called 
' -al prayer.- To lead In prayer. eefcodt.=8vn. 
r, Petition, Request, Entreaty, Supjilicativn, Suit, Ap- 
, Invocation, orison. Prayer Is always addressed lo 
d, but a prayer may be addressed to a sovereign, legis- 
lative body, court, or the like, always to a person or body 
recognized as having authority In some way, and asking 
for something especially Important. A petition may be a 
single point in & prayer : thus, the Lord's Prayer contains 
one address, three loyal desires, four petitions, and a clos- 
ing ascription. A petition may also be a formal and public 
request or prayer, but still generally covering only a single 
thing desired. Jteqitegt is the most general and least forci- 
ble of these words, Indicating nothing as to the degree of 
formality of the act or as to the rank of the persons con- 
cerned. An entreaty is an urgent, perhaps tender, request, 
generally from and to a person. A supplication is still 
more urgent, the request being made with passion, and 
humbly, as to a superior. The word entreaty Is not often 
followed by the mention of that which is desired, but may 
4072 
prayerlessly (prar'les-li), adt. In a prayerless 
manner; without prayer. 
prayerlessness (prar'les-nes), n. The state of 
being prayerless ; total or habitual neglect of 
prayer. 
prayer-meeting (prar'me'ting), n. A meeting 
for prayer; especially, a service devoted to 
prayer, sacred song, and other religious exer- 
cises, in which laymen take part. 
Hence the Importance he justly attaches to his accurate 
family worship, morning and night; to his exact atten- 
dance on the Wednesday night prayer -meeting, which he 
prizes as a sort of Sabbath hour In the centre of the week. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 160. 
:-mill (prar'mil), w. Same as praying- 
preach 
or a TO/Y at law. An appeal is an urgent request, of the 
nature of a call or demand. See o*H. 
Whence can comfort spring, 
When prayer is of no avail? 
Wordsworth, Force of Prayer. 
This one prayer yet remains, might I be heard. 
No long petition, speedy death, 
The close of all my miseries, and the balm. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 660. 
I will marry her, sir, at your request. 
Shak., M. W. of W., 1. 1. 258. 
Yet not with brawling opposition she, 
But manifold entreatie, many a tear, . . . 
Besought him. Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
I have attempted one by one the lords, . . . 
With supplication prone and father's tears, 
To accept of ransom for my son their prisoner. 
Uilton, S. A., 1. 14.19. 
They make great rute to seme her. 
Anehaui, The Scholemaster, p. 77. 
Meanwhile must be an earnest motion 
Made to the qneen, to call back her appeal 
She Intends unto his holiness. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., 11. 4. 234. 
prayer 2 (pra'6r), n. [< ME. prayerc, < OF. 
preieur, Tf.prieur, < L. precator, one who prays, 
<precari, pray: tteeprayi, v.~\ One who prays; 
a suppliant ; a petitioner. 
prayer-bead (prar'bed), n. A seed of the plant 
Indian licorice, Abrttg precatorius. 
prayer-book (prar'buk), n. 1. A book of forms 
for public or private devotion, consist ing chiefly 
or solely of forms for prayers. See Book of 
Common Prayer, under prayer 1 . 2. Xaut., a 
small stone used in scrubbing the deck and 
other woodwork of a vessel : so called from its 
shape and size. Compare holystone. 
Smaller hand-stones, which the sailors call prayer-bookt, 
are used to scrub in among the crevices and narrow places, 
where the large holystone will not go. 
R. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 208. 
prayer-carpet (prar'kar'pet), n. A prayer-rug. 
The rich use a prayer-carpet (called segga'deh) about 
the size of our hearth-rugs. 
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 81. 
. The cure of 
prayer-monger (prar'mung'ger), n. One who 
offers prayers. [Contemptuous.] 
I have led 
Some camel-kneed prayer-monger through the cave. 
Southey, Thalaba, v. 34. 
prayer-rug (prar'rug), n. A rug or small car- 
pet intended to be spread on the floor of a 
mosque, the roof of a nouse, or the ground by 
a Moslem when engaged in his devotions. He 
stands on It, with his face turned toward Mecca, and pros- 
trates himself , touchiug the carpet with his forehead from 
time to time. In many of the prayer-rugs of Persia and 
Arabia the place to receive the forehead in prostration is 
Indicated in the pattern at one end of the carpet. Com- 
pare doorshek. 
prayer-stick (prar'stik), n. A decorated stick 
used by the Zuiii Indians in their religious 
ceremonies. 
It was nearly hidden by symbolic slate and prayer-sticks 
most elaborately plumed. The Century, XXVL 28. 
prayer-thong (prar'thdng), w. Same as pJiy- 
lactery (a). [Rare.] 
Phylactery (ctvAaxTiipioi') Is the name given in the New 
Testament to the ... (tenllln) or prayer-thongs of the 
Jews. Encyc. Brit., XIX. L 
prayer-wheel (prai-'liwel), n. 8&mea.spraying- 
whecl. 
Prayidae (pra'i-de), w. pi. [NL., < Praya + 
-ids?.] A family of oceanic hydrozoans of the 
order Calycopltora, typified by the genus Praya. 
It is related to Uiphyulx, and often merged in 
that family. 
praying (pra'ing), n. [Verbal n. of pray 1 , r.] 
A service of prayer. 
That purgatory, salutes worshippinge, masses, and pray- 
ingct for the dead, with such like, were mooste deuelyshe 
iuuencions. /;/.. Bale, English Votaries, II. 
praying-desk (pra'ing-desk), w. A piece of fur- 
niture affording a desk to support books for 
prayer and worship and a platform on which 
to kneel; especially, such an article forming 
a piece of furniture in a private house, as in a 
bedroom or an oratory. Also called prie-dieu. 
A man and his wife are kneeling at an old-fashioned 
praifing-desk, and the woman clnsps a little sickly-looking 
child in her arms, and all three are praying as earnestly 
as their simple hearts will let them. 
Thackeray, Men and Pictures. 
emple at Av.Lus ., Tokio, Japan. 
pree, adv., before, in front, prep., before, in 
front of, in advance of: in comparison, with, 
on account of, etc.; OL. *prai, akin to Skt. 
pra-, before, etc.: see pro- and /ore-l. This 
prefix occurs disguised or absorbed in preach, 
premium, prey 2 , prison, prize 1 , etc., and as 
family Mantidx : so called from the peculiar 
attitude and position of the fore legs, which 
' '" 
prairie, and cf. prayell.'] A meadow. 
A castel the comlockest that euer knyjt agte, 
Pyched on a prayere, a park al aboute. 
3ir tin it-ail a* and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 768. 
prayerful (prar'ful), a. [<prayeri + -//.] 1. 
Praying much ; devout. 
They melt, retract, reform, and are watchful and prayer- 
ful to prevent similar miscarriages In future. 
l<in. Sermons, p. 70. (Latham.) 
. u ' ln , deed J ne " ame hmt y to ?P k affirmatively, or 
doctrinally. and only by changing the mood to speak pray- 
ingly. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
. . 
praying-machine (pra ing-ma-shen'), . See 
praying-icheel. 
praying-mantis (pra'ing-man'tis), n. A pray- 
, . 
(pra mg-hwel), . A revolving 
apparatus used for prayer, (a) Among the Bud- 
prayer: as, a prayerful spirit. 
He had sunk back In his chair, . . . and was pursuing 
a sort of prayerful meditation. 
Otarge Eliot, Felix Holt, xxxvlll. 
prayerfully (prar'ful-i), adv. In a prayerful 
manner; with prayer. 
prayerfulness (prar'ful-nes), n. The state of 
being prayerful. 
prayerless (prSr'les), a. [< prayer* + -less."] 
Without prayer; not having the habit of pray- 
er: as. M in-ii //tries* family; also, not having the 
blessing or protection of prayer. 
or clothes. 
(Hie variety contains the Buddhist canon; to another 
written prayers are attached, and upon being set In mo- 
tion each revolution of the wheel or cylinder counts as an 
uttered prayer. Sometimes the wheel Is fixed In the bed 
of a stream, and kept In motion by the current, thus pray- 
ing night and day for the person who has placed It there. 
See cut In next column. (t) In western Europe, a wheel 
set with bells and fastened to the cell Ing of certain medie- 
val chapels. This contrivance was used as a means of divi- 
nation, being set in motion during high mass or on feast- 
days, when its position on coming to rest was supposed 
to denote a favorable or an unfavorable response to the 
prayer of the applicant Also called wheel of fortune. 
The praying-wheel exists in old chapels In Brittany as a 
y, formerly used with rites hah* magical under 
" The Century, XXXVII. 371. 
Nerer im prayerita t>ed 
To lay thine unblest heed. 
Margaret Mercer, Exhortation to Prayer. 
prayset. *'. t. An obsolete form of praise. 
pre-. [In L. form also prte- ; = P. pre- = Sp. Pg. 
It. pre-, < L. prx- (ML. usually pre-), prefix, 
great frequency In compounds of Latin origin or forma- 
tion, it has been used and felt as an English formative, 
whether with words of Latin or Greek origin, as In pre- 
act, prehistoric, etc., or with other words, as in pwraphael- 
Ite, preadamite. etc., though rarely with native English 
verbs, as \npre-look. In zoology pre- (or pra-) Is a frequent 
prefix, used almost at will, indicating precedence, whe- 
ther in time or place ; it Is quite synonymous with ante-. 
and to some extent with pro- or proto-, and Is opposed 
to pott- or meta- In any sense. In recent technical terms 
It Is often in the Latin form pree-, such words, whether 
Latin or English In termination, having pre- or prie- al- 
most indifferently. Strictly, in all such words having a 
Latin termination the prefix should be pra- ; In words 
fully Englished, the form pre- is to be used. It Is some- 
times Interchanged with pro-. 
preaccusation (pre-ak-u-za'shon), . [< prc- 
+ accusation.] Previous accusation, 
preacet, . An obsolete form of. press 1 . 
preacetabular (pre-as-e-tab'u-lftr), a. [< L. 
prse, before, + L. aeetabulvm, the socket of the 
hip-bone : see acetabular."] Situated in front 
of the acetabulum or cotyloid cavity of the hip- 
bone : as, the preacetabular area of the ilium, 
preach (prech),r. [< ME.jirveAmX OF.precher, 
prech ier, preclter, preeehei; preescher, precschier, 
P. prfcher = Pr. predicar, presicar = Sp. pre- 
dicar = Pg. pregar = It. predicare = AS.jiredi- 
rian = OS. predicon = D. prediken = MLG. pre- 
diken, predigen = OHG. predigon, bredigon, 
MHG. brcdigen, G. predigen = Icel. predika = 
Sw. predika = Dan. priedike, prseke, preach, < L. 
prsKticare, declare in public, publish, proclaim, 
LL. and ML. preach, < prse, before, + dicare, 
declare, proclaim, < dicere, say, tell : see diction, 
and cf. predicate.] I. intrant. 1. To make a 
public announcement; especially, to pronounce 
a public discourse upon a religious subject, or 
from a text of Scripture ; deliver a sermon. 
But pncheth nut, as freres doon In lente, 
To make us for our olde synnes wepe. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Clerk's Tale, 1. 12. 
Now, good Conscience, and thou vtult inche, 
Goo stele an ablte, & blcome a frere. 
//../HI IK to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.\ p. 67. 
How oft, when Paul has serv'd us with a text, 
Has Eplctetus, Plato, Tully, preach'd ! 
Cmcper, Task, II. MO. 
2. To give earnest advice, especially on reli- 
gious or moral subjects ; also, to give advice 
obtrusively on religious or moral matters. 
His form and cause conjoln'd, preaching to stones, 
Would make them capable. SHak., Hamlet, lii. 4. 126. 
Old Father Time deputes me here before ye, 
Not for to preach, but tell his simple story. 
Burnt, Prol. Spoken at the Theatre, Dumfries. 
If it had been an unnamed species, surely It ought to 
have been called Diabolicus, for It is a fit toad to preach 
In the ear of Eve. Darwin, Voyage of lleaglo, I. 124. 
Preaching friars, a name sometimes given to the Domin- 
icans, on account of the stress which they laid upon 
prrachlng. 
II. Iran*. 1. To proclaim as a herald; .!- 
dare; make known ; publish. 
The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings nut.. 
the meek. Isa. Ixl. 1. 
A world that seems 
T.. toll the death-lK-ll <>( Its own decease, 
And by the voice of all It* elements 
To preach the gen'ral doom. Cmrper, Task, II. 5S. 
