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praecido

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Latin

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Etymology

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From prae- +‎ caedō (cut; strike).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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praecīdō (present infinitive praecīdere, perfect active praecīdī, supine praecīsum); third conjugation

  1. to cut off in front or through; shorten; sever, separate
    • c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 1:
      Et ideō ego adulēscentulōs existimō in scholīs stultissimōs fierī, quia nihil ex hīs, quae in ūsū habēmus, aut audiunt aut vident, sed pirātās cum catēnīs in lītore stantēs, sed tyrannōs ēdicta scrībentēs, quibus imperent fīliīs ut patrum suōrum capita praecīdant, sed respōnsa in pestilentiam data, ut virginēs trēs aut plūrēs immolentur, sed mellītōs verbōrum globulōs et omnia dicta factaque quasi papāvere et sēsamō sparsa.
      And this is why I consider that teens become most stupid in schools, because they neither hear nor see anything of those that we have in use, but pirates with chains standing on the shore, but tyrants writing edicts, by which they order that sons cut off the heads of their fathers, but oracles given in plagues, that three or more maidens be immolated, but balls of honeyed words and all that's said and done as if besprinkled with poppy and sesame seeds.
  2. to beat to pieces, batter, smash
  3. (nautical) to cut off or across, avoid, sail straight
  4. (of discourse) to cut short, abridge; to be brief; break off or finish abruptly
    • 45 BCE, Cicero, Academica 2.43.133:
      'Praecide,' inquit, 'statue aliquandō quidlibet!'
      'Cut it short,' he says, 'decide something at once!'
  5. to break off, cut off, end, destroy
  6. to deny flatly, refuse, decline
    • 68 BCE – 44 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 8.4.2:
      Numquam reor cuiquam tam humilī, tam sordidō, tam nocentī, tam aliēnō tam praecīsē negāvī quam hic mihi plānē sine ūllā exceptiōne praecīdit. Nihil cognōvī ingrātius; in quō vitiō nihil malī nōn inest. Sed dē hōc nimis multa.
      Never do I think I have so absolutely refused someone, no matter how lowly, how dirty, how wicked, how unknown to me as this one denied me plainly without any exception. I have experienced nothing more ungrateful; in which vice nothing of vileness is not. But enough of this.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Italian: precidere

References

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  • praecido”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • praecido”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • praecido in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.