premonitor

English

Etymology

From Latin praemonitor.

Noun

premonitor (plural premonitors)

1. One who, or that which, gives premonition; a harbinger
   • 1642, Thomas Cheshire, A True Copy of that Sermon which was preached at St Pauls, page 14:

     Beloved, give me leave to be a premonitor, a forewarner to you in this place, and to tell you that these things must needs provoke God to heavy displeasure .

   • 1853, G. W. Bethune, “Life and Opinions of Socrates”, in Edward A. Rice, editor, The Ladies' Diadem: a Token of Friendship, page 80:

     and if he is legitimately attended to, sedulously known, and religiously reverenced, in the way he was reverenced by Socrates, with justice and innocence, will be a predicter in things uncertain, a premonitor in things dubious, a defender in things dangerous, and an assistant in want.

   • 1871, John N. Stearns, The Temperance Speaker, page 89:

     By power of legal suasion, forbid all emanation Of brewers' fermentation, or poisonous preparation Of spirit distillation, nor any vain libation, Producing stimulation, premonitor of desolation.

   • 1872 August, Alexander Edward M'Rae, “The Physiological Action of Chloral, illustrated by Experiments”, in “The” Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, page 146:

     When asleep, the increase of the respirations was the premonitor of resolution.

   • 1980, Summaries of Technical Reports, Volume X, page 423:

     The purpose of this research is to determine whether unusual animal behavior may serve as a biological premonitor of earthquakes.

2. A forerunner; a predecessor.
   • 1905, Annual Report of the Iowa State Horticultural Society- Volume 39, page 32:

     And within this erect sport-producing structure is found a columella, which may be regarded as the premonitor of a vascular system.

Translations

one who, or that which, gives premonition

• French: prémoniteur (fr) m, prémonitrice f
• Italian: premonitore

Verb

premonitor (third-person singular simple present premonitors, present participle premonitoring, simple past and past participle premonitored)

1. To monitor beforehand.
   • 1980, Sheldon D. Rose, A Casebook in Group Therapy: A Behavioral Cognitive Approach, page 145:

     4. premonitor all eating;

   • 1984, Michael Merbaum, Michael Rosenbaum, “Self-Control Theory and Technique in the Modification of Smoking, Obesity, and Alcohol Abuse”, in Cyril M. Franks, editor, New Developments in Behavior Therapy, page 82:

     The premonitoring group recorded food, amount, time, and place of eating prior to eating.

   • 1995, George van Leeuwen, “A Hedonic Approach to Output Price Indices for Construction”, in Proceedings of the 1995 Annual Research Conference of the U.S. Department of Commerce, page 745:

     They are only to premonitor construction activities to be expected.

References

• “premonitor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾemoniˈtoɾ/ [pɾe.mo.niˈt̪oɾ]

• Audio (Chile):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: pre‧mo‧ni‧tor

Noun

premonitor m (plural premonitores)

1. foreshock
2. premonition, forewarning

Antonyms

• réplica

Further reading

• “premonitor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28