precant

[Lat. precans, pr. par. of precor = to pray.] One who prays; a prayer; a supplicant. ( Cole ridge.) prě-cär-I-ous, a . [Lat. pre car i us obtained by prayer or as a favor, precarious, from precor =to pray; Fr. précaire ; Sp. & Ital. precario .] 1. Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy; liable to be changed, alienated, or stopped at the pleasure of another. "They would allow only a very limited and a very pre. carious authority." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng . , ch. xiii. 2. Uncertain; held by a doubtful tenure. 3. Uncertain in the result; doubtful, hazardous. "Who has ever observed a writer of any eminence a candidate in so precarious a contest?"-Goldsmith: Polite Learning, ch. x. 3215