Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A priest: often used in old writers as the title of a supposed Christian king and priest (Prester John) of a medieval kingdom. The belief in the existence of such a ruler in some undetermined part of Asia appeared in the twelfth century. From the fourteenth century the seat of the supposed Prester John was placed in Abyssinia, and this belief was held down to the close of the middle ages.
- n. A meteor.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A meteor or exhalation formerly supposed to be thrown from the clouds with such violence that by collision it is set on fire.
- n. One of the veins of the neck when swollen with anger or other excitement.
- n. A priest or presbyter.
Examples
“Called prester by the Greeks, typhoon by the Romans, timmins by the Persians, and dragons de mer by the French, waterspouts annihilated ships and massacred sailors.”
“The prester is an asp that moves quickly with its mouth always open and emitting vapour...”
“I am prester mast (Prestre mace, maistre passe.), Prish, Brum!”
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
“Now a day was incomplete without its disclosure about this or that bishop or prester or whatnot having fa'thered a child on his sister, having poisoned his pre'decessor, or having embezzled a fortune to buy his male mistress a forty-eight-room cabin in the country.”
Cold Copper Tears
“Nasidius by a prester which caused his form to swell to an unrecognisable size, and so on through the list of serpents, each episode closing with a brilliant epigram which clenches the effect.”
The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius
“[60] In allusion to the swelling caused by the _prester_, Non ausi tradere busto, Nondum stante modo, _crescens fugere cadaver_!”
The History of Roman Literature From the earliest period to the death of Marcus Aurelius
“Au prester couzin germaine, au rendre fils de putaine”
“Catholiques de la fidelité desquels il croye se pouvoir asseurer, il pourra les laisser dans leurs habitations après leur avoir fait prester serment de fidelité à sa Majesté ....”
“Mais d* en prester, foi de marchand, encore: fit j 'ay promis, foi de - Clement, d' en prendre.”
Internet Archive: Illustrations of Sterne: With Other Essays and Verses
“books, fiction, prester john valued contributions:”
fbharjo a pre-star or mythical meteor thrown from the clouds Sep 7, 2009
agreatnotion n. a priest (OSPD) Dec 10, 2006