Part 472

-- Pre*cip"i*tous*ly, adv. -- Pre*cip"i*tous*ness, n.

||PrÈ`cis" (pr`s"), n. [F. See Precise.] A concise or abridged ||statement or view; an abstract; a summary.

Pre*cise" (?), a. [L. praecisus cut off, brief, concise, p. p. of praecidere to cut off in front, to cut off; prae before + caedere to cut: cf. F. prÈcis. Cf. Concise.] 1. Having determinate limitations; exactly or sharply defined or stated; definite; exact; nice; not vague or equivocal; as, precise rules of morality.

The law in this point is not precise.

Bacon.

For the hour precise Exacts our parting hence.

Milton.

2. Strictly adhering or conforming to rule; very nice or exact; punctilious in conduct or ceremony; formal; ceremonious. Addison.

He was ever precise in promise- keeping.

Shak.

Syn. -- Accurate; exact; definite; correct; scrupulous; punctilious; particular; nice; formal. See Accurate.

-- Pre*cise"ly, adv. -- Pre*cise"ness, n.

Pre*ci"sian (?), n. 1. One who limits, or restrains. [Obs.]

2. An overprecise person; one rigidly or ceremoniously exact in the observance of rules; a formalist; -- formerly applied to the English Puritans.

The most dissolute cavaliers stood aghast at the dissoluteness of the emancipated precisian.

Macaulay.

Pre*ci"sian*ism (?), n. The quality or state of being a precisian; the practice of a precisian. Milton.

Pre*ci"sian*ist, n. A precisian.

Pre*ci"sion (?), n. [Cf. F. prÈcision, L. praecisio a cutting off. See Precise.] The quality or state of being precise; exact limitation; exactness; accuracy; strict conformity to a rule or a standard; definiteness.

I have left out the utmost precisions of fractions.

Locke.

Syn. -- Preciseness; exactness; accuracy; nicety. -- Precision, Preciseness. Precision is always used in a good sense; as, precision of thought or language; precision in military evolutions. Preciseness is sometimes applied to persons or their conduct in a disparaging sense, and precise is often used in the same way.

Pre*ci"sive (?), a. Cutting off; (Logic) exactly limiting by cutting off all that is not absolutely relative to the purpose; as, precisive censure; precisive abstraction. I. Watts.

<! p. 1127 !>

Pre*clude" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Precluded; p. pr. & vb. n. Precluding.] [L. praecludere, praeclusum; prae before + claudere to shut. See Close, v.] 1. To put a barrier before; hence, to shut out; to hinder; to stop; to impede.

The valves preclude the blood from entering the veins.

E. Darwin.

2. To shut out by anticipative action; to prevent or hinder by necessary consequence or implication; to deter action of, access to, employment of, etc.; to render ineffectual; to obviate by anticipation.