Part 456

Prac"tick (?), n. Practice. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Prac"ti*sant (?), n. An agent or confederate in treachery. [Obs.] Shak.

Prac"tise (?), v. t. & i. See Practice.

The analogy of the English language requires that the noun and verb which are pronounced alike should agree in spelling. Thus we have notice (n. & v.), noticed, noticing, noticer; poultice (n. & v.); apprentice (n. & v.); office (n. & v.), officer (n.); lattice (n.), latticed (a.); benefice (n.), beneficed (a.), etc. Cf. sacrifice (&?;; n. & v.), surmise (&?;; n. & v.), promise (&?;; n. & v.); compromise (&?;; n. & v.), etc. Contrast advice (&?;; n.), and advise (&?;); device (&?;), and devise (&?;), etc.

Prac"ti*sour (?), n. A practitioner. [Obs.]

Prac*ti"tion*er (?), n. [From Practician.] 1. One who is engaged in the actual use or exercise of any art or profession, particularly that of law or medicine. Crabbe.

2. One who does anything customarily or habitually.

3. A sly or artful person. Whitgift.

General practitioner. See under General, 2.

Prac"tive (?), a. Doing; active. [Obs.] Sylvester. -- Prac"tive*ly, adv. [Obs.]

The preacher and the people both, Then practively did thrive.

Warner.

Prad (?), n. [Cf. D. paard.] A horse. [Colloq. Eng.]

PrÊ- (?). A prefix. See Pre-.

||PrÊ"ca`va (?), n. [NL. See Pre-, and 1st Cave.] (Anat.) The superior ||vena cava. -- PrÊ"ca`val (#), a. B. G. Wilder.

PrÊc"i*pe (?), n. [L., imperative of praecipere to give rules or precepts. See Precept.] (Law) (a) A writ commanding something to be done, or requiring a reason for neglecting it. (b) A paper containing the particulars of a writ, lodged in the office out of which the writ is to be issued. Wharton.

||PrÊ"co*ces (?), n. pl. [NL. See Precocious.] (Zoˆl.) A division of ||birds including those whose young are able to run about when first ||hatched.

PrÊ*co"cial (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the PrÊcoces.

||PrÊ*cog"ni*ta (?), n. pl. [L. praecognitus, p. p. of praecognoscere ||to foreknow. See Pre-, and Cognition.] This previously known, or ||which should be known in order to understand something else.

PrÊ*com"mis*sure (?), n. [Pref. prÊ + commissure.] (Anat.) A transverse commissure in the anterior part of the third ventricle of the brain; the anterior cerebral commissure.

PrÊ*cor"a*coid (?), n. (Anat.) See Precoracoid.

||PrÊ*cor"di*a (?), n. [L., fr. prae before + cor, cordis, the heart.] ||(Anat.) The front part of the thoracic region; the epigastrium.

PrÊ*cor"di*al (?), a. (Anat.) Same as Precordial.

||PrÊ*cor"nu (?), n.; pl. PrÊcornua (#). [NL. See Pre-, and Cornu.] ||(Anat.) The anterior horn of each lateral ventricle of the brain. B. ||G. Wilder.

PrÊ"di*al (?), a. See Predial.

PrÊ`flo*ra"tion (?), n. Same as Prefloration. Gray.

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PrÊ*fo`li*a"tion (?), n. Same as Prefoliation. Gray.