praying machine, praying mill, praying wheel

An apparatus used in Thibet, and other parts of the East, as a mechanical aid to prayer. They are of various forms, the commonest being a cylinder or barrel of pasteboard fixed on an axle, and inscribed with prayers. The devout give the barrel a turn, and each revolution counts as an utterance of the prayer or prayers inscribed. The Abbé Huc (in his Travels in Thibet, 1844) says that "It is common enough to see them fixed in the bed of a running stream, as they are then set in motion by the water, and go on praying night and day, to the special benefit of the person who has placed them there. The Tartars also suspend them over their domestic hearths, that they may be set in motion by the current of cool air from the opening in the tent, and so twirl for the peace and prosperity of the family." prāy'-ing-lý, adv . [Eng. praying ; -ly.] In a praying manner; with prayers or supplications. ( Milton : Apol . for Smectymnuus. § 11.) prā-ys, s . [ Gr.prays =mild, soft]. Entom.: A genus of Hypo no meu tide. The larva of Prays curt i sell us, a native of Northwestern Europe, feeds on the ash. An allied species injuries the olive trees of southern Europe. P. R. A., abbrev . [Sce def.) President of the Royal Academy. ( Eng .) P. R. B., abbrev. [See def.] An abbreviation for Pre-Raphae lite Brotherhood (q. v.). "It was instinctive prudence, however, which suggested to us that we should use the letters P. R. B. , unexplained on our pictures (after the signature), as the one mark of our union." Contemp. Review, April, 1886, p. 481. before; Fr. pré-.] A prefix denoting priority in time, place, position, or rank, as in premature = pre-, præ, [Lat. præ composition) ripe before its time; precede = to go before; pre fix = to place before; preeminent = eminent before or above all others: hence, it equals very, as pre potent very potent or powerful.