ante prostate (an to prost at)

[ anterior (an-te'ri-or), a. [L., compar. adj., as if from * anterus, Intellect is the simple power anterior to all action or construction. Emerson, E ays, 1st ser., p. 295. 3. In zoöl. and zoöt., nearer the head, as opposed to posterior; cephalal, as opposed to caudal; oral, as opposed to aboral: thus, the head is anterior to the neck, which is itself anterior to the trunk and tail. 4. In human an at., situated in front, with respect to that side of the body on which is the face; ventral, as opposed 236 to dorsal; hemal, as opposed to neural: as, the anterior pillars of the pharynx; the anterior walls of the belly; the anterior pillars of the spinal cord. The two parts into which the iris divides the eye are called the anterior and posterior chambers. Brewster, Optics, p. 288. ( N. E. D.) 5. In bot., in axillary inflorescence, noting the side most distant from the axis and nearest the subtending leaf or bract: as, the anterior side of a flower: otherwise called inferior or lower. [In all its senses usually followed by to before an object.]=Syn. 2. See previous.