| 释义 |
▪ I. prior, n.|ˈpraɪə(r)|
Forms: 1–3 prior, 4–6 priour, -e, pryour, (5 priowr, pryo(u)r, pryowre, prier), 6– prior.
[Late OE. prior, a. L. prior, -ōr-em former, superior (see next), in med.L. as n. the superior or chief officer of a society, spec. a prior; in ME. reinforced by OF. priur (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), priour (mod.F. prieur), whence the ME. form priour, etc. In sense 2 b ad. It. priore.]
1. A superior officer of a religious house or order.
a. In an abbey, the officer next under the abbot, appointed by him to exercise certain authority, maintain discipline, and preside over the monastery in his absence (prior claustral); in a smaller or daughter monastery the resident superior (prior conventual). In monastic cathedrals, in which the Bishop took the place of Abbot, the Prior was the actual working head of the abbey. In some large foreign abbeys, e.g. Cluny and Fécamp, there were several priors, the chief of whom was called Grand Prior. b. The superior or head of a house of Canons Regular (Augustinians, Arroasians, and originally Premonstratensians). c. Also the superior of a house of Friars.
Grand Prior, the commander of a priory of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, or of Malta.
1093Charter of Wulfstan in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Aev. Sax. (1865) 445 Hine God ᵹeuferade þæt he wearð prior & fæder þæs bufan cweðenan mynstres. a1123O.E. Chron. an. 1107 Ernulf þe ær wæs prior on Cantwarbyrig. a1131Ibid. an. 1129 Þa priores, muneces and canonias þa wæron on ealle þa cellas on Engla land. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 219/642 And þe prior with procession to þe ȝate comez. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace 7065 He asked leue atte priour To speke wyþ Constant. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 350 Þer [friars] ordre lettiþ þes, but ȝif þei han þer priours leeve. 1455Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 287 The Priowrys of the fowre Orderys of Freyerys. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 780/20 Hic prior, -ris, a prier. 1533More Confut. Tindale ii. 532 In the same house whereof I was master and pryour. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 270 Laurence his successor, brought Monks into the house, the head whereof was called a Prior, which woorde..was in deede but the name of a seconde officer, bicause the Bishop himselfe was accompted the very Abbat. 1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3918/1 The Grand Prior is at present with the Duke of Vendosme, his Brother. 1706Phillips, Priors Aliens, were certain Priors born in France, that had the Government of Monasteries founded for outlandish Men in England. 1706tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 16th C. II. iv. xxi. 379 The general Chapters, or the Visitors of the same Orders, shall appoint Priors-claustral, or Sub-Priors, in the Priories in which there is a Convent, to exercise Corrections and Spiritual Government. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., In the monastery of St. Denys, there were anciently five priors; the first whereof was called the grand prior... There are also grand priors in the military orders. 1901J. T. Fowler in Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) III. Introd. 3 In Durham, as in Winchester, Ely, and other monastic Cathedrals, the Bishop was the honorary and titular head, while the true head of the house was the Prior.
2. a. In foreign countries, the title of the elected head of a guild of merchants or craftsmen. b. The title of a chief magistrate in some of the former Italian republics, e.g. Florence: cf. priorate 1 b. Obs. exc. Hist.
1604Merch. New-Royall Exchange B ij b, The Merchants [at Rouen]..shall chuse out of the said number three officers, viz. A Prior and two Consulls, to remaine in their authoritie for one yeare. c1618Moryson Itin. iv. vi. (1903) 93 Still the cittizens had theire wonted Magistrate called Gonfaloniere, and theire Priour of Justice. 1748Earthquake of Peru i. 60 The Court of Commerce is the Consulship, where a Prior and two Consuls preside. [1832tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. x. 224 His son Cosmo, born in 1389, was priore in 1416.] 1878–83L. Villari Life & Times Machiavelli (1898) II. xiv. 398 The working-classes placed the Priors of the Guilds at the head of the Government.
†3. A superior. (After L. prior in Vulg. John i. 15.)
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 75 He is to come after Joon, al if he be Joonis pryour. Ffor he was not made bifore Ioon in tyme..for loon spekiþ of forþerhede of manhede of Crist bifore Ioon in grace, and also in worþynes. Ibid. 77 After me is to comen a man, þe whiche is made bifore me, for he was anoon my priour [cf. Vulg. John i. 15 quia prior me erat].
†4. The first or greatest; the chief. Obs.
1644Bulwer Chiron. 127 Plato, the Prior of all ancient Philosophers.
5. Commerce. The head of a firm. Now rare.
1853Millhouse Dizion. Ingl.-Ital., Prior (com.), socio principale, direttore. 1865(Jan. 2) Circular of Messrs. A. Gibbs & Sons, We beg leave to inform you that we have this day admitted as partner in our House Mr. George Louis Monck Gibbs, nephew of our prior. 1908Morning Post 1 Jan., Messrs. Antony Gibbs and Sons announce that they have admitted into partnership the Hon. Gerald Gibbs, son of their prior, Lord Aldenham.
Hence ˈprioracy, the office of prior: = priorate 1; ˈprioral a., of or pertaining to a prior.
1895E. Marg. Thompson Hist. Somerset Carthusians 71 St. Hugh's immediate successor in the prioracy was Bovo. 1882Athenæum 30 Sept. 427/3 The Abbot of Bath, who thereto had at once erected a prioral cell.
▪ II. prior, a. (adv.)|ˈpraɪə(r)|
[a. L. prior former, earlier, elder, anterior, superior, more important, f. OL. prep. pri before.]
A. adj. Preceding (in time or order); earlier, former, anterior, antecedent.
1714R. Fiddes Pract. Disc. ii. 38 Whether we become partakers of it by a prior or an after-consent. 1754Edwards Freed. Will ii. ii. (1762) 39 That is what is meant by a Thing's being prior in the Order of Nature, that it is some Way the Cause or Reason of the Thing, with Respect to which it is said to be prior. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. xv. 436 The first of these legal disabilities is a prior marriage. 1791Washington Let. Writ. 1892 XII. 17 The necessity of a prior attention to those duties. 1856Miss Mulock J. Halifax xi, I was fully acquainted with all the prior history of her inmates. 1865H. Phillips Amer. Paper Curr. II. 12 The meeting in the prior year was under different circumstances.
b. Const. to.
1714R. Fiddes Pract. Disc. ii. 37 The sin is prior to and..independent of the action. 1739Hume Hum. Nat. i. ii. (1874) I. 316 Our simple impressions are prior to their correspondent ideas. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. II. 263 These rites are said to have been..far prior to the foundation of Rome. 1907H. Jones in Hibbert Jrnl. July 747 They come in obedience to a necessity prior to their own will.
c. Statistics. Applied to the result of a calculation made in ignorance of, or previously to, some observation(s); prior probability, the probability that a hypothesis is true calculated without reference to certain relevant observations. Opp. posterior a. 1 b.
1921, etc. [see posterior a. 1 b]. 1977Sci. Amer. May 126/3 With this valuable extra information, which statisticians call a ‘prior distribution,’ it is possible to construct a superior estimate of each player's true batting ability.
d. prior charge, in Finance: see quots. 1968, 1974; also (with hyphens) as attrib. phr.
1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 15/1 The Companies Clauses Act, 1863, part iii., which makes debenture stock a prior charge on the undertaking, and gives the interest thereon priority of payment over all dividends or interest on any shares or stock of the company. 1930Economist 22 Mar. 653/1 Foreign bonds, industrial prior-charge stocks and even industrial preference shares shared in the general tendency, though to a less conspicuous extent. Ibid. 29 Mar. 695/2 Gilt-edged stocks and well-secured industrial debentures and prior charges. 1968Johannsen & Robertson Managem. Gloss. 105 Prior charges, all types of debentures, preference shares and other stocks ranking for payment of interest or dividend in precedence to the ordinary shares. 1974Terminol. Managem. & Financial Accountancy (Inst. Cost & Managem. Accountants) 62 Prior charge capital, those classes of share and loan capital, the holders of which have a claim on the profits and assets of a business before the ordinary shareholders.
B. as adv. with to: Previously to, before.
1736Butler Anal. Introd., Wks. 1874 I. 6 There is no presumption against this prior to the proof of it. 1766Mrs. S. Pennington Lett. I. 127 It existed prior to the formation of these bodies. 1826G. S. Faber Diffic. Romanism (1853) 116 Prior to the year 1215, a man..might be perfectly orthodox, who denied Transubstantiation, if he held Consubstantiation. 1875Scrivener Lect. Text N. Test. 6 [It] seems, prior to experience, very improbable.
Add:[A.] e. ellipt. as n. A prior conviction. Chiefly in pl. Cf. previous a. 2 e. U.S. slang.
1978J. Wambaugh Black Marble ix. 161 Burglary..rarely drew a state prison term, unless you had lots of priors. 1985E. Leonard Glitz i. 13 The guy he killed was running on speed and trailing a life-time of priors, destined..to crash and burn or die in jail. |