prior

noun

ecclesiastical title for a monastic superior

adjective

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹaɪ.ə/ / /ˈpɹaɪ.(ə)ɹ/ / /ˈpɹɑe.ə/

adj

Etymology: The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives). Doublet of before, fore, and former. The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.
“His prior residence was smaller than his current one.”
“I had no prior knowledge you were coming.”
More important or significant.
Chiefly in prior probability: of the probability of an event: determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.

adv

Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.
“The doctor had known three months prior.”
“From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Arya rushed to do the same with an approaching King Robert Baratheon, the series is calling back to its beginning, suggesting (at least for now) that the wheel continues to turn, sending us back into a pattern begun seven seasons prior.”

name

Etymology: From Middle English Prior, Priur (surname), from Middle English prior, priour (“prior”). More at prior.

A surname originating as an occupation for someone employed by a prior.
An unincorporated community in Douglas County, Missouri, United States.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English priour, prior (“head or deputy head of a monastery or other religious house; predecessor; superior”), from Old English prior, from Anglo-Norman priour, prior, priur, and Old French prior, priur (modern French prieur), and directly from their etymon Latin prior (“ancestor; predecessor”) (whence Late Latin prior (“superior of a religious house or order; abbot; deputy abbot; head of a guild”)), a noun use of prior (“former, previous, prior”, adjective): see etymology 1.

A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
“It is not yet an hundred yere a goe, ſince that ſame mayſter doctour was butler in the ſame houſe, whereof I was maiſter and praiour: […]”
A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
A high-ranking member of a religious house or religious order.
“[I]t hath appertained to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the space of four hundred years or thereabouts to have spiritual jurisdiction over all your Grace's subjects dwelling within the provinces; […] in the meantime of vacation the same privilege resteth in the churches of Canterbury and York; and is executed by the prior, dean and chapter of the said churches; […]”
A chief magistrate of the Republic of Florence (1115–1569) in what is now Italy.
“[F]irſt of all among themſelves of the ancienteſt they chuſe three heads or chiefs vvhich they call Priors; and alſo of the youngeſt among them they chuſe tvvo vvho perform the office of Secretaries. The Priors ſit dovvn, having before them a table upon vvhich are placed tvvo balloting boxes of that ſort that are uſed in the Great Council; in one of vvhich are put 40 balls, marked vvith a certain mark, that no deceit may be uſed. The reſt of the 41 ſit alſo dovvn, each vvhere he pleaſes. […] Then they are called one by one before the three Priors, and each one vvrites in his Schedule the name of him vvhom he vvould have to be Duke, and leaves it upon the table.”
The elected head of a guild of craftsmen or merchants in some countries in Europe and South America.
A person who is the earliest or most prominent in a field; the chief.
The head of a company.