prey 
A succession of ferocious invaders descended through 
the western panes, to prey on the defenceless wealth of 
HlndosUn. Macaulay, Lord dive. 
2. To seize aud devour an animal as prey: 
generally followed by or upon. 
Good morrow, masters ; put your torches out ; 
The wolves have prey'd ; and look, the gentle day . . . 
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey. 
Shot., Much Ado, v. 3. 25. 
Tts 
The royal disposition of that beast (the lioness) 
To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead. 
Shale., As you Like it, iv. :;. 118. 
3. To exert wasting or destroying power or in- 
fluence; bring injury, decay, or destruction: 
generally followed by on or upon. 
Language is too faint to show 
His rage of love ; it preys upon his life ; 
He pines, he sickens, he despairs, he dies. 
Addison, Cato, III. 2. 
Some (criticsl on the leaves of ancient authors prey, 
Nor time nor moths e'er spoil'd so much as they. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism,!. 112. 
Keep his mind from preying on itself. 
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna. 
n.t trans. To ravage; pillage; make prey of. 
Amongst the rest the which they then did pray. 
They spoyld old Melibee of all he had. 
Spenser, F. Q., VI. x. 40. 
The said Justice preied the countrey Tirconnell. 
HoUand, tr. of Camden, II. 15(1. i /<',-/,. i 
4718 
prialt (pri'al), . A coixuption of pair royal 
(which see, T under pair 1 ). 
But the annus mirabills of his [Alexander the Great's) 
public life, the most effective and productive year through- 
out his oriental anabasis, was the year 333 before Christ. 
Here we have another prial, a prial of threes, for the locus 
of Alexander. De Quincey, Style, lii. 
prian (pri'an), . Same as pryan. 
Priapean (pri-a-pe'an), a. and . [< L. Pria- 
pi-iim. Priapeu.1, pertaining to Priapns( neut.pl. 
Priapeia, a collection of poems on Priapus), < 
Gr. llpidiretoc,, < Upia-of, Priapus: see Priapus.'] 
I. a. l.XM or pertaining to Priapus. 2. Inane. 
pros., noting a certain verse or meter. See the 
noun. 3. [/. c.] Having a priapism. 
II. . In anc. prog., a logaoedic meter con- 
sisting of a catalectic Glyconic and a Phere- 
cratean . It assumes the following forms : 
preyer (pra'er), . [Early mod. E. also prefer; 
< ME. preiour (f ), < OF. preeor, preiour, < L. 
preedator, a plunderer, < pr&dari, plunder: 
see prey*. Cf. doublet predour.] One who or 
that which preys; a plunderer; a waster; a 
devourer. 
For, by hlr owne procurement and intisings, she became 
aud would needs be a preie ynto the prefer. 
Holinshed, Conquest of Ireland, i. 
preyfnlt (pra'ful), n. [<j>rei/2 + -//.] 1. Prone 
to prey ; savage. 
The prcyful brood of savage beasts. 
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymns to Venus, 1. 115. 
2. Having much prey; killing much game. 
[Burlesque.] 
The preyfid princess pierced and prick'd a pretty pleas 
ing pricket. Shalr., L. L. L., iv. 2. 58. 
preynet, . An obsolete form of preen 1 . 
preyset, r. and H. An obsolete variant of 
praise. 
prezygapophysial (prS-zI'gftp-^-flz'i-al), a. [< 
prezygapopkysit + -<?/.] Articulating anteri- 
orly, as a vertebral process; having the char- 
acter of or pertaining to a prezygapophysis. 
prezygapopnysis (pre-zi-ga-pof'i-sis), .; pi. 
prezyyupophijNes (-sez). [NL. prsezygapophysis ; 
\ L. pree, before, + NL. zygapophyxix, q. v.] An 
anterior or superior zygapophysis; in man, a 
superior oblique or articular process of a verte- 
bra : opposed to puntzygapnpliysis. See ~>iga- 
popliysis, and cuts under dorsal', lumbar, xaerum, 
jrenarthral, rertebrn, and hypapophysit. 
Priacanthidae (pri-a-kau'thi-de), M. pi. [NL., 
< PriacantliHn + -idle.'] A family of acanthop- 
terygian fishes, represented by the genus Prin- 
miitiiiis alone, with about 20 species of tropical 
seas, known as bigeyes. They are of small size 
and carnivorous habits. See cut under Pria- 
ca tit him. 
Priacanthina (pri'a-kan-thi'nii), n. pi. [NL., 
< PriaeantliUK -t- -iim 2 .] The Priacanthidte as 
the fourth group of Percida. Giinther. 
priacanthine (pri-a-kan'thin), a. and 11. [< Pri- 
acantliun + -inc.] I. a. Pertaining to the Pria- 
canthina or Priacanthidae, or having their char- 
acters. 
II. H. A priacanthine fish; any member of 
the Priacanthidse. 
Priacanthus (pri-a-kan'thus), . [NL. (Cuvier, 
1H17), so called from the serrated fin-spines; 
< Gr. T/Wwi', a saw, + axav6a, spine.] In iclith., 
the representative genus of Priacanthida. p. 
The name was given by ancient writers to the second and 
third of these forms, but especially to the second with ini- 
tial spondee in each colon. This was regarded by many as 
a variation of a dactylic hexameter with a spondee in the 
first, fourth, and sixth places, a diaeresis being made after 
the third foot and the preceding syllable lengthened : thus, 
See Satyric. 
Priapic (prl-ap'ik), a. [< Priapus + -tc.] Of 
or relating to Priapus, or to the cult and myths 
concerning him; phallic. 
The ithyphallic Hermes, represented after the fashion 
of the Pnapic figures in paintings on the walls of caves 
among the Bushmen. Kncyc. Brit., XVII. 153. 
priapism (pri'a-pizm), n. [= F. priapisme = 
Sp. Pg. It. priapismo, < L. priapismus, < Gr. irpia- 
mo/w(, priapism, lewdness, < npmiri&tv, be lewd, 
< Ilp/oTOf, Priapus: see Priapus.'] Morbidlyper- 
sistent erection and rigidity of the penis. 
Priapus (pri-a'pus), H. [=" F. Priapc, < L. 7V/- 
apn.i,<. Gr. Ilp/ajror, Priapus: see def.] 1. The 
male generative power or function personified 
as a deity: originally an epithet or cognomen of 
Bacchus, then a personification of the phallus. 
At Lampsacus, too, on the Hellespont, he [Bacchus) was 
venerated under a symbolical form adapted to a similar 
office (that of procreation], though with a title of a dif- 
ferent signification, Priapta. . . . The Greeks, as usual, 
changed the personified attribute into a distinct deity 
called Priaptis. 
K. P. Knight, Anc. Art and Myth. (1876), pp. 10, 11 
2. [/. r.] A symbol or representation of the 
male generative organ; a phallus. 3. [/. p.] 
The male genitals; the virile organ in the state 
of erection. 
pricasourt, . [ME., also prickasour ; origin 
obscure. Cf. prick, ride.] A hard rider. 
A monk ther was, a fair for the maistrie, 
An out-rydere, that loved venerye ; . . . 
Therfore he was a pricasour aright ; 
Oreyhoundes he hadde as swifte as fowel in flight. 
Of prikyng and of huntyng for the hare 
Was al his lust, for no cost wolde he spare. 
Chaucer, Qeu. Prol. to C. T., 1. 165-189. 
pri cement 
Poor fellow, never Joyed since the price of oat* rose; it 
was the death of htm. Shot., 1 Hen. IV., ||. 1. 14. 
W hat then ? is the reward of virtue bread ! 
That vice may merit ; 'tis the price of toll : 
The knave deserves it when he tills the soil. 
Pope, Essay on Man, Iv. 151. 
The most accurate modem writers . . . have employed 
Price to express the value of a thing In relation to money ; 
the quantity of money for which It will exchange. 
J S. Mill, PoL Econ., III. I. | !. 
The price, of a given article (In market) is the approxi- 
mate mathematical expression of the rates, in terms of 
money, at which exchanges of the article for money were 
actually made at or about a given hour on a given day. . 
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 495. 
3f. Esteem; high or highest reputation. 
Ffor proude men In price haue playnly no fryndes, 
But euery mon with enuy ertis horn skathe. 
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 4840. 
The river Ladon ... of all the rivers of Greece had the 
price for excellent pureness and sweetness. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, II. 
4f. Prize; award. 
Sche seyde, Y have welle sped 
That soche a lorde hath me wedd, 
That beryth the pryce In prees. 
MS. Cantab. It 11. 88, f. 82. (HalliiecU.) 
A price', to approval ; well. 
lob was a payuym and plesede God a pryi. 
Piers Plowman (CX xv. 184, note. 
At Easter price t. See Easteri. Famine prices. See 
famine. ftaxa' prices. See/ar, 2. Making a price, 
In stock-broking, a Jobber's quotation of prices to a broker 
for buying and selling In the same security. Market 
price. See market. Natural, normal, or average 
price, in polit. econ., the price which prevails in open mar- 
ket on the average for any length of time ; the average of 
the market price for some length of time. See value. 
Price of money, in com., the price of credit ; the rate of 
discount at which capital may be lent or borrowed. 
Without price, beyond or above price ; priceless. 
A robe 
Of samite itilhmit price, that more exprest 
Than hid her, clung about her lissom limbs. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
= Syn. 2. Price, Charge, Cost, Expense, Worth, Value. For 
a given article these may all come to the same amount, 
but they are very likely to differ. The price of a shawl 
may be ten dollars, and that is then the dealer's charge 
tor It, but he may finally make his price or charge nine 
dollars, and that will be the cast of it, or the eipeiitf of It 
to the buyer. Its wort* or value may be what it will sell 
for, or what it ought to sell for, or what one would be will- 
ing to pay for it rather than go without It, the last being 
the highest sense. 
price (pris), f. t.; pret. and pp. priced, ppr. 
pricing. [In mod. use price is directly from 
the noun ; in older use it is a var. of the verb 
prize, < ME. prinen, < OF.priser, value, esteem, 
etc.: see prix'* and praise.'] If. To pay the 
price of. 
The man that made Sausfoy to fall 
Shall with his ownc blood j>rice that he hath spilt. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 26. 
2. To put a price on ; estimate the value of. 
3. To ask the price of. [Colloq.] 
If you priced such a one In a drawing-room here, 
And was ask'd fifty pounds, you'd not say It was dear. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 261. 
pris, G. preis, praise, glory, price, reward, etc., 
< OF. pris, preis, F. prix, price, value, reward, 
prize, etc., = Pr. pretz = Sp. precio = Pg.prcco 
= It. pre:zo, price, value, < L. pretium, worth, 
price, money spent, wages, reward ; prob. akin 
to Gr. mpvdvat, sell ; Skt. panu for *panta,w&ges, 
price. Hence ult. (< L. pretium) 'E. praise, prise 2 , 
prices current, the proper title of such a list 
itself.] In cow., a regularly published list of 
the prices at which merchandise has been sold 
for a day or other fixed period. See price-list. 
priced (piist), a. 1. Having a (specified) price : 
used in composition: as, bigu-pricett ; low- 
priced. 2. Marked with the price or prices: 
as, a priced catalogue of machinery. 
B4gcyc \rriatanthui macrofltthalmtu). 
macroptMalmut, the blgeye of the West Indies, occa- 
sional on the cuast of the lulled states, is a characteristic 
example. /'. altiu in found oil the New England coast. 
Thel sette no prys lie no richesse, but only of a precyous 
St. MI that Is amonges hem, that Is of 60 coloures. 
MamleriUr, Travels, p. 196. 
And how that frerls folwed folke that was rlche, 
And folke that was pore at lltel print thel sette. 
Piert Ploicman (B\ xltl. 8. 
Who can find a virtuous woman ? for her price Is far 
above rubles. Prov. xxxi. 10. 
I have ever loved the life removed, 
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies. 
Shot., M. for M., I. S. 9. 
O spare my youth, and for the breath I owe 
Large gifts of price my father shall liestow. 
Pope, Iliad, x. 450. 
2. The sum or amount of money, or its equiv- 
alent, which a seller asks or obtains for liis 
goods in market; Iho exchangeable value of 
:i I'lininiuilil y: thr equivalent in money for 
which something is bought or sold, or offered 
for sale; hence, figuratively, that wliii-li must 
be given or done in order to obtain a thing. 
- luiy wine and milk, without money and without 
Isa. Iv. 1. 
rate of calcium, of a compact chalky appear- 
ance, often in rounded nodules, found in Ore- 
gon. Paudermite is similar to it, and both 
minerals are closely related to colemanite. 
priceless (pris'les)", a. [< price + -less.] 1. 
Too valuable to be priced; beyond price; in- 
valuable. 
What/>ricefc wealth the heavens had him lent 
In the possession of his beauteous mate. 
Shot., Lucrece, 1. 17. 
2. Without value; worthless or unsalable. Up. 
Karlnir. (Imp. />ic/.)=Syn. 1. Inestimable, 
pricelessness (pris'les-m-si, . The property 
or characteristic of being above price. 
The pricrlranrm of water In a land where no rain falls 
during six months. The Century, XXVI. 004. 
price-list (pris'list). H. A list of the prices at 
which slocks, bonds, and other pro|>erty and 
nieivhundise are offered for sale; a price-cur- 
rent. 
pricementt < ].ris'iiienl I, . [ Var. (.f ;ri> nt 
forOKprtanMMf.] Valuation; appraisal. [Hare.] 
