priority (prior it i)

[F. prior ité = Sp. prior i dad =Pg. prioridade = It. prior ità, prior it a (t)s, L. prior, former: see prior, a.] 1. The state of being prior or antecedent, or of preceding something else: as, priority of birth: opposed to posteriority. As there is order and priority in matter, so is there in time. Bacon , Advancement of Learning, ii. 345. 2. Precedence in place or rank; the having of certain rights before another. Follow Com in i us; we must follow you; Right worthy you priority . Shak., Cor., i. 1. 251. After his [Austin's) decease there should be equali tie of honour betwixt London and Yorke, without all distinction of prior i tie . Foxe , Martyrs, p. 156, an. 1070. It was our Saviour's will that these, our four fishermen, should have a priority of nomination. I. Walton , Complete Angler, p. 48. Under these the scholars and pupils had their places or formes, with titles and priority according to their proficiency. Evelyn , Diary, Oct. 5, 1641. 3. In law, a precedence or preference, as when one debt is paid in priority to others, or when an execution is said to lose its priority by the neglect of the party to enforce it.-4. Apriority. Syn. Priority, Antecedence, Precedence, Preëmi nence, Predominance, Preference, Superiority, Supremacy. Priority is the state or fact of coming first in order of time; what little use it has beyond this meaning is only a figurative extension. Antecedence is strictly priority, IMG:content-0986.png:[blocks in formation] prisalt (prīʻzal), n. [Also prizall; by abbr. from reprisal.] A taking; a capture. They complain of two ships taken on the coast of Portugal.... They of Zeland did send unto Holld to let them know of these prisals . Sir P. Sidney, quoted in Motley's Hist. Netherlands, [III. 174, note. priscan (pris'kan), a. [ We seem to hear in the songs and dances of the savage Indians the echoes of our own priscan history. Smithsonian Report, 1881, p. 506. Priscian (prish'ian), n. [So called from Pris cian (LL. Priscianus ), a Latin grammarian (about A. D. 500).] A grammarian. Compare the phrase to break Priscian's head, under break. But thus it is when petty Priscians Will needs step up to be censor i ans. Marston, Satires, iv. 104. Priscillianism (pri-sil'yan-izm), n. [ lianists.