Middle ton, Mas singer, and Rowley, Old Law, i

1. predece or (pre-de-ses'or), n. [ prede ce eur , F. prédéce eur = Sp. predecesor = Pg. predece or =It. predece ore , LL.prædece or , one who has gone before, præ , before, + dece or , a retiring officer, decedere , pp. de ce us , go away, depart: see decease . Cf. ante ce or and succe or .] One who goes before or precedes another. (a) One who precedes another in a given state, position, or office; a previous occupant of a position or office. What know wee further of him [Leontius, Bishop of Magnesia] but that he might be as factious and false a Bishop as Leontius of Antioch, that was a hunderd yeares his predece or ? Milton , Prelatical Episcopасу. (bt) An ancestor; a forefather. IMG:content-0830.png:[blocks in formation] pre dedication (pre-ded-i-kā'shon), n. + dedication .] A prior dedication; a dedication made beforehand or previously. Webster's Dict. predefine (pre-de-fin'), v . t .; pret. and pp. pre defined , ppr. predefining . [OF. predefinir = Sp. Pg. predefinir = It. pre def in ire , præ definire , predetermine, præ , before, + defi nire , define: see define .] To define or limit beforehand; set a limit to previously; predetermine. Daniel understood that the number of years which God had, in his word to Jeremiah the prophet, predefined for the continuance of the captivity of the Jews and the desolation of Jerusalem, viz. seventy years, were now near to their expiration. Bp . Hall , Hard Texts, Daniel, ix. 2. predefinition (pre-def-i-nish'on), n. [Early mod. E. prediffynycion ; =Sp. pre def in i cion = Pg. pre def in ição = It. predefinizione , prædefi nitio ( n- ), prædefinire , predetermine: see pre define .] Definition in advance; predetermination. Vntyl such tyme as the complete nomber of theyr const aunt fellowes and faithful bretherne shoulde be fulfylled and whollye accomplyshed accordynge to the eternal predyffynycion of God. Bp. Bale , Image, i. pre deliberation (pre-de-lib-e-rā'shon), п. [ pre- + deliberation .] Deliberation beforehand. Roget. pre delineation (prē-dē-lin-ē-āʻshon), n . [ pre + delineation .] 1. Previous delineation. - 2. The theory or doctrine of the animalculists of the last century, who considered the whole body of an individual to be preformed in a spermatozoön, and the figure to be pre delineated in the head and other parts of the sperm-cells. Leeuwenhoek, Hartsoeker, and Spallanzani were the chief defenders of this theory of pre delineation .