prep.n.1
Grammar.
Chiefly in lexicographical contexts: preposition.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > other parts of speech > [noun] > preposition
prepositionc1434
prep.1668
prepositive1693
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Alphabet. Dict. in Ess. Real Char. sig. Aaa/2 About (concerning), Prep.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Above. prep.
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Kaive, a tossing of the fore legs, rearing; when followed by prep. up, it denotes climbing.
1849 Gloss. Prov. Words Teesdale 1 Aback, prep. Behind; as, stand aback o' me.
1902 Mod. Lang. Notes 17 497/1 The following mistakes were also noticed: afin (de, que) adv. instead of afin de, prep. and afin que, conj.
1993 Eng. Today Jan. 35/2 (Gloss.) In , prep. substandard. Used as equiv. of ‘at’ usu. with ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as in ‘my son's so bad in Maths but he's quite good in languages’.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2020).
prepn.3
/prɛp/, U.S. /prɛp/ slang.
1. U.S. Horse Racing. A race that acts as preparation for a more important competition; a preliminary race.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [noun] > types of racing > types of race
wild-goose race1594
wild goose chase1597
bell-course1607
Palio1673
stake1696
paddock course1705
handicap1751
by-match1759
pony race1765
give and take plate1769
sweepstake1773
steeplechase1793
mile-heat1802
steeple race1809
welter1820
trotting-race1822
scurry1824
walkover1829
steeple hunt1831
set-to1840
sky race1840
flat race1848
trot1856
grind1857
feeler1858
nursery1860
waiting race1868
horse-trot1882
selling plate1888
flying milea1893
chase1894
flying handicap1894
prep1894
selling race1898
point-to-point1902
seller1922
shoo-in1928
daily double1930
bumper1946
selling chase1965
tiercé1981
1894 Chicago Tribune 19 Mar. 4/6 Cicero will not start at the Hawthorne spring meeting, but will be reserved and get a special ‘prep’ for the Saratoga timber events, where he will run into the Eastern jumpers.
1898 Chicago Tribune 18 June 6/3 The Senior Stakes at Harlem is also a ‘prep’..for next Saturday's great race at Washington Park.
1932 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 8 Apr. 13/2 If Hirsch decides to race at Jamaica, Tick On and On Post probably will get their derby prep in the $10,000 Wood memorial.
1975 New Yorker 15 Sept. 110/2 It isn't often that a hundred-thousand-dollar race is a prep for a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar one.
2004 Los Angeles Times 30 Sept. d1 Only a few horses are expected to run in the $1-million race, a prep for the Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30.
2. Chiefly British and South African. = preparation n. 11.Allegedly in use as early as 1862: see preparation n. 11.
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society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > exercises or homework
lesson?c1225
renderc1380
vulgars1520
practicec1541
theme1545
example1562
tax1564
repetition1579
exercise1612
praxis1612
recreation1633
pensum1667
vacation-exercisea1668
version1711
task1737
thesisa1774
dictation1789
challenging1825
holiday task1827
devoir1849
homework1852
vulgus1857
cram-book1858
rep1858
banco1862
prep1866
classwork1867
preparation1875
work card1878
vacation-task1904
1866 Marlburian 26 Sept. 200/1 So spake Smith to his friend, as they perambulated the court one evening between tea and prep.
1867 Cliftonian Dec. 118 The debates fill up a gap in ‘out-of-prep’ hours which is seldom taken up with anything better.
1880 Marlburian 18 May 78 The Rifle Corps... A voluntary drill has been started during prep. on Saturday night.
1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 119 Murdoch he let crib off him in ‘prep’ three times.
1901 ‘I. Maclaren’ Young Barbarians xv The recreations which enliven ‘prep’.
1939 R. C. Woodthorpe Rope for Convict v. 51 I've just remembered I haven't done the prep. he sent me.
1972 Where Sept. 237/3 The standard half-hour homework, or ‘prep’ as it is called in some schools, is purely notional.
1991 S. Fry Liar (1992) iii. 99 Absurd minor offences: whistling in his study during prep; having his hands in his pockets while watching a match.
2017 T. Peake North Facing ii. 21 Prep was underscored by a specific aural accompaniment: pens first, scratching on paper; then the percussive footsteps of the master on duty as he paced the hall.
3. gen. Preparation; an instance of this.Recorded earliest in prep room n. at Compounds 1.
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [noun]
yarkingc1000
forgraithinga1300
apparellingc1315
ordinancec1330
purveyancec1330
graithinga1340
purveying1340
providencea1382
making readyc1384
preparationa1393
paring1393
provisiona1398
parelc1425
apparelc1430
parelling?a1440
ablingc1450
munition1480
preparing1497
arraya1500
readyinga1500
repurveancea1500
ordaining1509
apparation1533
preparementa1538
apprest1539
preparaturea1540
preparance1543
order1545
apparance1546
prepare1548
fore-preparationa1586
ettlingc1600
apparelment1607
parationa1617
comparation1623
address1633
apparatus1638
prep1920
1920 Times 12 Feb. 9/2 A plan of the last robbery, on which was written:—‘Meet at Chippenham at 4 Sunday, November 30. (1) Beak's room first, (2) prep. room second.’
1925 D. H. Lawrence Let. ?17 Dec. (1962) II. 870 Tell Achsah, lest she make any preps for me.
1934 Amer. Speech 9 237/2 The curtailed word or back-shortening prep... In this sentence, The team had an intensive prep yesterday afternoon, it has the same connotation as drill or practice.
1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 4 Nov. (1995) 201 Having done all my ‘prep’—ordering all the minutes and resolutions of a long and argumentative College-meeting yesterday..I have half an hour to spare.
1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere iv. 35 I went down to the morgue and..watched the prep.
2003 Radio Times 22 Nov. (Midlands ed.) 32/2 What did you see there? Some prep, and some filming on episode four of the new series.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
prep room n.
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1920 [see sense 3].
1976 M. Millar Ask for me Tomorrow (1977) xvi. 127 A little too perfectly groomed, as if he'd just been given the full treatment in..a mortician's prep room.
1998 N.Y. Mag. 16 Mar. 47/2 There is a very functional bride's prep room, with a bath and full-length mirror.
prep stage n.
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1977 Hot Car Oct. 69/1 (caption) Persevere with this as it is an important prep stage for the paint.
2004 Parenting (Nexis) Aug. 47 Blend smoothing serum with a little bit of mousse during the prep stage.
prep supervision n.
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1967 Times 19 Jan. 13/7 Young Vincent brought up a history question in my prep supervision and I told him that really I had no idea of the answer as I had not done history for 15 years.
1976 Daily Times (Lagos) 4 Sept. 19/2 (advt.) Boarding with daily coaching, strict attention, and Prep Supervision for: Forms One to Five male and female in Lagos.
prep time n.
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1946 Times 17 Dec. 5/7 When they turn off the radio-thrillers in prep.-time, their children regard them as insensate and tyrannic giants.
1961 E. S. Turner Phoney War vii. 28 At prep time, they were not allowed to use ink, for fear of damaging the art treasures on the walls.
1991 Amer. Cinematographer Sept. 75/2 I came on the movie just four days before the cameras rolled, which meant I had virtually no prep time.
C2.
prep chef n. originally U.S. = prep cook n.
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1962 N.Y. Times 4 Sept. 64/1 (advt.) Rest prep chef—continental/American.
2000 Observer (Nexis) 3 Dec. 50 I'd entertained far more exotic visions of the culinary arts than bagging up onion rings as a prep chef at Manchester's brand-new Hard Rock Cafe.
prep cook n. originally U.S. a worker in a restaurant kitchen who prepares food (by chopping vegetables, mixing sauce ingredients, etc.) for use by another cook in making a dish.
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1967 Valley News (Van Nuys, Calif.) 11 May (Classifieds section) 15 (advt.) Prep Cook Apply.
1972 Holland (Mich.) Evening Sentinel 17 July 14/4 (advt.) We..will need several full time and part time people. Grill cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, waitresses.
1997 M. D. Donovan Cooking Essentials i. 182/2 A typical career..begins as a prep cook, cleaning and cutting vegetables, watching over stocks and soups, preparing such basic preparations as mirepoix, roux, and clarified butter.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
PrEPn.4
/prɛp/, U.S. /prɛp/ Pre-exposure prophylaxis; spec. treatment of an HIV-negative person with antiretroviral drugs before his or her exposure to a situation in which transmission of the virus is a risk.
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2001 Jrnl. Communicable Dis. 33 267/2 Dog bites were seen by all the health care providers. In total 18% of the HCPs were aware of..PrEP [for rabies prevention].
2008 New Scientist 22 Nov. 41/2 The fact that a strategy like PrEP is being considered at all is a sad reflection on the painfully slow progress towards a vaccine against HIV.
2014 I. E. Alcamo AIDS, Biol. Basis (ed. 6) 226 Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been used..to prevent disease caused by an infectious agent before an individual is exposed to the disease-causing pathogen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
prepadj.n.2
/prɛp/, U.S. /prɛp/ Chiefly colloquial.† A. adj.
= preparatory adj. 2. Obsolete. rare.Perhaps never in spoken use, except in prep school n.
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > [adjective]
preparatory1442
preparative1530
preparing1606
provisional1619
preliminary1650
parasceuological1671
parasceuastic1672
prep1839
1839 Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pa.) 30 Sept. Rev. Wm. M. Reynolds, A. M. Professor of Latin Language & Literature, and Principal [of the] Prep. Department.
B. n.2
1. U.S. A student at a prep school (prep school n. 1); a student taking a preparatory course of study. Also: = preppy n. 2.
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society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > primary or prep school pupil
primarian1858
prep1863
preparatory1873
primary1908
preppy1928
1863 R. S. Lanier Let. 7 May in S. Lanier Wks. (1945) VII. 98 As the ‘prep’ must mind his ‘P's & Q's’ in spelling so the ingenious ‘Soph’ must mind his tonings down in writing.
1899 A. H. Quinn Pennsylvania Stories 117 He was going to tell all those people, from the Governor down to the prep in the gallery, who came from his own old school, just what the College had done for him.
1948 Chicago Daily News 6 Dec. 23/4 (caption) 2 preps die in Oregon bush crash.
1988 J. McInerney Story of my Life ix. 143 The prep goes, hi, I'm Everett, but nobody gives a shit.
1992 Antigonish Rev. Spring 117 I think she would have chuckled at the idea of setting a sports record, beating the preps at their own game. Angel didn't much like mainstream activities.
2.
a. U.S. = prep school n. 1.Recorded earliest in compounds.
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society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > other types of school
writing schoola1475
rectory1536
spelling school1704
greycoat1706
rural school1734
Charter School1763
home school1770
Philanthropine1797
British school1819
side school1826
prep school1829
trade school1829
Progymnasium1833
finishing-school1836
field schoola1840
field school1846
prairie school1851
graded school1852
model school1854
Philanthropinum1856
stagiary school1861
grade school1869
middle school1870
language school1878
correspondence school1889
day continuation school1889
prep1891
Sunday school1901
farm school1903
weekend school1907
Charter School1912
folk high school1914
pre-kindergarten1922
Rabfak1924
cram-shop1926
free school1926
crammer1931
composite school1943
outward-bound1943
blackboard jungle1954
pathshala1956
Vo-Tech1956
St. Trinian's1958
juku1962
cadre school1966
telecentre1967
academy2000
academy school2000
1891 New Oxford (Pa.) Item 21 Aug. A game of base ball on the Prep. grounds at Gettysburg..between New Oxford and Gettysburg clubs.
1896 J. Barnes Princetonian v. 63 That's the little red-headed Smart Aleck that was at the ‘Prep’ with me two years ago.
1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye i. 2 Pencey Prep is this school that's in Agerstown, Pennsylvania.
1996 Washington Post 24 Dec. d1 (headline) Scouts look to preps to build for the future.
b. British. = prep school n. 2.
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society > education > place of education > school > [noun] > primary school
under-school1629
primer schoola1680
proseminary1774
primary school1792
dame-schoola1817
pettya1827
ma'am-school1838
elementary school1841
primary1851
prep school1862
minding-school1864
junior school1871
tother school1881
marm school1889
preparatory1904
terakoya1909
prep1924
prepper1956
1924 H. de Sélincourt Cricket Match v. 158 To know whose call it is..was driven into me at the prep.
1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 21 My attendance at Dulwich College Preparatory School (the Prep.) coincided with the South African war.
1989 S. Armitage Zoom! 9 Heard the one about the guy from Heaton Mersey? Wife at home, lover in Hyde, mistress In Newton-le-Willows and two pretty girls In the top grade at Werneth prep.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
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1891 [see sense B. 2a].
1901 Gettysburg (Pa.) Compiler 5 Nov. The Prep. football team met a peculiar defeat at Mercersburg last Saturday.
1910 Mansfield (Ohio) News 26 Mar. 8/6 He has had experience in his prep days as an outfielder and played a good game.
1940 Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 May 11/5 Seven Gibbon high school seniors finish their prep sports careers here this spring.
1991 R. C. Lindberg To serve & Collect xi. 283 Other notations..referred to ticket sales made by the policeman for the mayor's annual prep championship football game.
C2. Designating a pupil at a prep school.
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1891 N.Y. Times 4 Oct. 3/3 The whole playing of the Princeton team was more of the style of ‘Prep’ schoolboys, and showed a surprising weakness throughout.
1895 J. L. Williams Princeton Stories 244 Charlie Symington was a well-built prep. boy who had been known to strike out three men with the bases full.
1924 E. P. Stewart Let. Oct. in S. K. George Adventures Woman Homesteader (1993) ii. 85 It is a good day..to make some ginger cookies for my three darling hoodlums and for my very dignified ‘Prep’ girl.
1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 11 I was left in the hands of a second year prep boy, my ‘nursemaid’, to be introduced to the way of life of a new boy or ‘squitt’ as he was called.
2001 Observer (Nexis) 1 July 20 Bingham left Groton for Brown, an Ivy League university attended almost exclusively by Manhattan prep-boys and rich Europeans.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
prepv.1
/prɛp/, U.S. /prɛp/ colloquial (originally U.S.).
1.
a. transitive. Originally: to train (a horse or other animal) in preparation for a race (cf. prep n.3 1). Later also more generally: to train (a sportsman, team, etc.) in preparation for any sporting event.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > ride horse in race [verb (transitive)] > train
prep1894
1894 Chicago Tribune 15 May 8/3 If time had permitted the vigorous work necessary to ‘prep’ a Derby colt he would have won the race almost beyond a doubt.
1911 Atlanta (Georgia) Constit. 16 Apr. 6 b/5 Vincent Campbell, who was ‘prepped’ last season to take Clarke's place, has quit baseball.
1943 Sun (Baltimore) 12 Oct. 16/5 (heading) Attention [sc. a horse] being prepped for New Orleans 'Cap.
1967 Boston Sunday Herald 14 May ii. 3/1 Anyone planning to enter greyhound racing should know it costs close to $600 to prep each dog for the races.
2005 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press (Nexis) 29 Sept. d5 Miles is prepping his team for Saturday's trip to Mississippi State.
b. transitive. To prepare (a patient, a part of the body) for surgery. Also intransitive.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > cure as by surgery [verb (transitive)] > operate on > prepare for operation
prep1927
1927 Amer. Speech 2 313/1 Ask whether the ‘ten-thirty appendectomy has been prepped yet?’ For some reason a patient's abdomen is not shaved, it is ‘prepped’, that is, prepared for the surgeon.
1937 ‘J. Bell’ Murder in Hosp. vii. 133 Macdonald started to prep him.
1961 ‘K. Norway’ Waterfront Hosp. i. 19 I told Nurse David, ‘Five minutes—we'll have to prep on the table.’
2004 Daily Tel. 25 May 6/3 If I had been taken in an ambulance, they could have ‘prepped’ me for when we arrived.
c. transitive. gen. To prepare, make ready.
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)]
yarec888
yarkc1000
graithc1175
readya1225
biredienc1275
to make yarec1290
forgraitha1300
adightc1330
buskc1330
purveyc1330
agraith1340
disposec1375
before-graithea1382
to forge and filec1381
to make readya1382
devisec1385
bounc1390
buss?a1400
address?a1425
parel?a1425
to get upc1425
providec1425
prepare1449
bakec1450
aready1470
arm?a1505
prevenea1522
get?1530
to get ready1530
to get ready1530
to set in readiness1575
apply1577
compose1612
predy1627
make1637
to dispose of1655
do1660
fallowa1764
to line up1934
prep1936
tee1938
1936 Esquire Sept. 160/3 Little Lord Fauntleroy and Dodsworth have been ‘prepping prod.’ (preparing production) for some time.
1969 I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam v. 110 The gun-ships must have done a thorough job of ‘prepping’ the L.Z. because, apart from sporadic sniper fire,..we met no opposition there.
1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 18 Sept. 5/1 Looking as Tory as the advance men who precede the Premier to prep the crowd, he strolled through the market.
2003 N.Y. Times Mag. 5 Oct. 106/2 We resume prepping the chicken, assuming that the lights will come on in a few minutes.
2. intransitive. To prepare oneself; to train, practise.
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare or get ready [verb (intransitive)]
buskc1330
agraith1340
to make readya1382
arraya1387
providec1425
prepare1517
addressa1522
apparel1523
bouna1525
buckle1563
to make frecka1572
fettle?c1600
fix1716
to set into ——1825
to show foot1825
ready1878
to fang a pump, (loosely) a well1883
prep1900
to get (oneself) organized1926
to sharpen one's pencil1957
1900 Dial. Notes 2 51 Prep, v[erb] i[ntransitive], to prepare.
1937 Sun (Baltimore) 22 Apr. 17/1 (heading) Track preps for Ky. Derby.
1949 N.Y. Times 4 Sept. v. 2/6 A pitcher, who had prepped earnestly for many years in the minors..was cut from the roster.
1972 Newsweek 10 Jan. 24/3 Mrs. Nixon has been prepping for the trip for weeks.
1985 Fortune 21 Jan. 3 No.2 4/2 After prepping with the seabees during World War II and at Harvard..Leuahan joined Fortune as a salesman in 1955.
2002 NewsMax.com Mag. 15 July 38/1 [They] spent their youth in boarding schools prepping for Ivy League colleges and Harvard Law.
Derivatives
ˈprepping n. preparation.
ΚΠ
1907 Washington Post 13 Mar. 8/7 The selection of a field general is the first big piece of news from the training camps. Wags along the Alamo prepping camps gossip..on the eligibles for the place.
1978 A. Phillips & J. Rakusen Our Bodies Ourselves (new ed.) xiii. 425 The incidence of infection is in fact a little higher in mothers whose pubic area was shaved. Many of us feel that prepping is undignified.
1998 Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 1/2 The drama of the first president to testify before a criminal grand jury investigating his actions began at 12.59pm Washington time..after two and half hours of legal ‘prepping’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
prepv.2
/prɛp/, U.S. /prɛp/ U.S. slang.
intransitive. To attend a preparatory school as a student.
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society > education > learning > [verb (intransitive)] > go to school > prep school
prep1909
1909 N.Y. Times 30 Nov. 10/3 Hill ‘prepped’ at Phillips-Exeter, and plays full back.
1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise i. ii. 43 Where'd you prep?
1977 New Yorker 23 May 91/1 A native of Peoria, Illinois, who prepped at Lawrenceville, Davis graduated from Princeton with highest honors in history.
2004 Macon (Georgia) Tel. (Nexis) 3 Apr. c1 UConn freshman Charlie Villanueva and Duke freshman Luol Deng, who prepped together at Blair Academy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11668
n.31866
n.42001adj.n.21839v.11894v.21909