pregnant, pressing, compelling, cogent, convincing; hence, clear, obvious. Meas. for M. ii. 1. 23; Othello, ii. 1. 241. OF. preignant, pressing, pp. of preindre, L. premere, to press; cp. preignantes raisons (Godefroy, Compl.).
pregnant, receptive, fertile, imaginative. Twelfth Nt. iii. 1. 101; ready, ‘The pregnant Hinges of the knee’, Hamlet, iii. 2. 66; phr. a pregnant wit, Heywood, Maidenhead Lost, i. F. prégnant (Rabelais), L. praegnans.
prepense, to consider beforehand, to premeditate. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 25, § 2; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 11. 14. See [purpense].
presence: phr. in presence, present; often, in reference to ceremonial attendance upon a person of superior, esp. royal, rank, Barclay, Cyt. and Uplondyshman (Percy Soc. 13); Richard II, iv. 1. 62; a place prepared for ceremonial presence or attendance, a presence-chamber, ‘The two great Cardinals Wait in the presence’, Hen. VIII, iii. 1. 17; chamber of presence, Bacon, Essay 45. Evelyn, Diary, Dec. 5, 1643.
presently, immediately. Temp. iv. 42; v. 101; Two Gent. ii. 1. 30; ii. 4. 86; Bible, 1 Sam. ii. 16; Matt. xxvi. 53. See Bible Word-Book. Cp. F. ‘presentement, presently, quickly, anon, at an instant, speedily, suddenly’ (Cotgr.).
president, a precedent. Bacon, Essay, Of Great Place; Of Innovations; Of Judicature.
press, press-money, i.e. prest-money, as paid to an impressed soldier. Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, i. 2 (Marcellius).
prest, ready. Merch. Ven. i. 1. 160; Marl., 2 Tamburlaine, i. 1 (Orcanes); Dido, iii. 2. 22. An E. Anglian word (EDD.). ME. prest (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 917). F. ‘prest, prest, ready, full-dight; prompt; quick’ (Cotgr.); now written prêt.
Prester John, the name given in the Middle Ages to an alleged Christian priest and king originally supposed to reign in the extreme East, beyond Persia and Armenia; but from the 15th cent. generally identified with the King of Ethiopia or Abyssinia (NED.). ‘I will fetch you a tooth-picker now from the farthest inch of Asia; bring you the length of Prester John’s foot’, Much Ado, ii. 1. 276; Dekker, Old Fortunatus, ii. 1 (near end); ‘The great Christian of Æthiopia, vulgarly called Prester, Precious or Priest-John’, Sir T. Herbert, Travels, 130. For the history of the subject see Col. Yule’s article in Encycl. Brit. xix. 715. See Stanford.
prestigiatory, relating to ‘prestigiation’, juggling, deceptive, delusive; ‘The art prestigiatory’, Tomkis, Albumazar, i. 7; ii. 3.