Part 487

Shak.

Syn. -- Prejudgment; prepossession; bias; harm; hurt; damage; detriment; mischief; disadvantage.

Prej"u*dice, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prejudiced (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Prejudicing (?).] [Cf. F. prÈjudicier. See Prejudice, n.] 1. To cause to have prejudice; to prepossess with opinions formed without due knowledge or examination; to bias the mind of, by hasty and incorrect notions; to give an unreasonable bent to, as to one side or the other of a cause; as, to prejudice a critic or a juryman.

Suffer not any beloved study to prejudice your mind so far as to despise all other learning.

I. Watts

2. To obstruct or injure by prejudices, or by previous bias of the mind; hence, generally, to hurt; to damage; to injure; to impair; as, to prejudice a good cause.

Seek how may prejudice the foe.

Shak

Prej`u*di"cial (?), a. [L. praejudicialis belonging to a preceding judgment: cf. F. prÈjudiciel.]

1. Biased, possessed, or blinded by prejudices; as, to look with a prejudicial eye. [Obs.] Holyday.

2. Tending to obstruct or impair; hurtful; injurious; disadvantageous; detrimental. Hooker.

His going away . . . was most prejudicial and most ruinous to the king's affairs.

Clarendon.

-- Prej`u*di"cial*ly, adv. -- Prej`u*di"cial*ness, n.

Pre*knowl"edge (?), n. Prior knowledge.

Prel"a*cy (?), n.; pl. Prelacies (#). [LL. praelatia. See Prelate; cf. Prelaty.] 1. The office or dignity of a prelate; church government by prelates.

Prelacies may be termed the greater benefices.

Ayliffe.

2. The order of prelates, taken collectively; the body of ecclesiastical dignitaries. "Divers of the reverend prelacy, and other most judicious men." Hooker.

Pre"lal (?), a. [L. prelum a press.] Of or pertaining to printing; typographical. [Obs.] Fuller.

Prel"ate (?; 48), n. [F. prÈlat, LL. praelatus, fr. L. praelatus, used as p. p. of praeferre to prefer, but from a different root. See Elate.] A clergyman of a superior order, as an archbishop or a bishop, having authority over the lower clergy; a dignitary of the church.

This word and the words derived from it are often used invidiously, in English ecclesiastical history, by dissenters, respecting the Established Church system.

Hear him but reason in divinity, . . . You would desire the king were made a prelate.

Shak.

Prel"ate (?), v. i. To act as a prelate. [Obs.]

Right prelating is busy laboring, and not lording.

Latimer.

Prel`a*te"i*ty (?), n. Prelacy. [Obs.] Milton.