Pre"cious (?), a. Particular; fastidious; overnice; overrefined. Cf. Précieuse, Preciosity.
Lest that precious folk be with me wroth.
Chaucer.
Elaborate embroidery of precious language.
Saintsbury.
Pre*cip`i*ta"tion, n. (Meteor.) A deposit on the earth of hail, mist, rain, sleet, or snow; also, the quantity of water deposited.
Deposits of dew, fog, and frost are not regarded by the United States Weather Bureau as precipitation. Sleet and snow are melted, and the record of precipitation shows the depth of the horizontal layers of water in hundredths of an inch or in millimeters.
Preferential voting. (Political Science) A system of voting, as at primaries, in which the voters are allowed to indicate on their ballots their preference (usually their first and second choices) between two or more candidates for an office, so that if no candidate receives a majority of first choices the one receiving the greatest number of first and second choices together in nominated or elected.
Pre`ig*ni"tion (?), n. (Engin.) Ignition in an internal-combustion engine while the inlet valve is open or before compression is completed.
||Pre*mière" (?), a. fem. [F., prop. fem. of premier first. See Premier, a.] First; chief; as, a première danseuse. -- n. fem.; pl. - mières (F. pre*myâr"). (a) The leading woman of a group, esp. in a theatrical cast. (b) A first performance, as of a play; a first night.
Pre-Raph"a*el*ite, n. Popularly, any modern artist thought to be a would-be restorer of early ideas or methods, as one of the German painters often called Nazarenes, or one who paints and draws with extreme minuteness of detail.
{ Pres"ent value or worth } (of money payable at a future date). The principal which, drawing interest at a given rate, will amount to the given sum at the date on which this is to be paid; thus, interest being at 6%, the present value of $106 due one year hence is $100.
Press"board` (?), n. A kind of highly sized rag paper or board, sometimes containing a small admixture of wood pulp; -- so called because used originally, as now, in presses for pressing and finishing knit underwear.
Press cake. A cake of compressed substance, as: in gunpowder manufacture, the cake resulting from compressing the meal powder; in the treatment of coal tar, the pressed product at various stages of the process; or, in beet-sugar manufacture, the vegetable residue after the sugar juice has been expressed.
Press proof. (Print.) (a) The last proof for correction before sending to press. (b) A proof taken on a press, esp. to show impression, margins, color, etc.
Press revise. (Print.) A proof for final revision.
Pres"sure (?), n. Electro-motive force.
Pressure wires. (Elec.) Wires leading from various points of an electric system to a central station, where a voltmeter indicates the potential of the system at those points.
Press"work` (?), n. 1. Work done on or by a press.
2. (Metal Work) Act or process of pressing or drawing with dies or presses; also, the product of such work.
3. (Cabinetmaking) Work consisting of a series of cross-grained veneers united by glue, heat, and pressure.