noun · masculinethird declension
praetor
praetor m (genitive praetōris)
Classical[ˈprae̯.tɔr]Ecclesiastical[ˈprɛː.tor]
№ 878 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- masculineleader, head, chief, president
- masculinepraetor (office)
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
magistrātus Rōmānus quī iūdicia regit.praetor -ōris m — in Mille Verba, Urbs et Aedificia
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | praetor | praetōrēs |
| genitive | praetōris | praetōrum |
| dative | praetōrī | praetōribus |
| accusative | praetōrem | praetōrēs |
| ablative | praetōre | praetōribus |
| vocative | praetor | praetōrēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- nomen alicuius deferre (apud praetorem) (Verr. 2. 38. 94)
- to accuse, denounce a person.
- appellare tribunos plebis (in aliqua re a praetore) (Liv. 2. 55)
- to appeal to the plebeian tribunes against a praetor's decision.
praetor, ōris, m. for praeitor, from praeeo.
I. Prop., a leader, head, chief, president:
regio imperio duo sunto: iique praeeundo, judicando, consulendo, praetores, judices, consules appellantor, Cic. Leg. 3, 3, 8.—So, in gen., of the chief magistrates in colonies, as in Capua: cum in ceteris coloniis duoviri appellentur, hi se praetores appellari volebant, Cic. Agr. 2, 34, 93; cf. the context.—Of the Roman consul as chief judge, Liv. 3, 55.—Of the dictator: praetor maximus, Liv. 7, 3: aerarii, president of the treasury, an office created by Augustus, Tac. A. 1, 75; id. H. 4, 9.—Of the suffetes in Carthage, Nep. Hann. 7, 4.—Of generals, commanders of foreign nations, Cic. Div. 1, 54, 123; id. Inv. 1, 33, 55; Nep. Milt. 4, 4 et saep.—II. In partic., a prœtor, a Roman magistrate charged with the administration of justice; the office was first made distinct from the consulship A. U. C. 387. After the first Punic war, A. U. C. 490, there were two, praetor urbanus for Roman citizens, and praetor peregrinus for strangers, Cic. Lael. 25, 96; id. Mur. 20, 41: praetor primus centuriis cunctis renunciatus, i. e. appointed first, id. Imp. Pomp. 1, 2; id. Pis. 1, 2; Gai. lnst. 1, 6;
1, 78. The praetor had a tribunal where he sat on the sella curulis, with the judges on subsellia beside him. But he used to decide less important controversies wherever the parties found him: e plano, Suet. Tib. 33: in aequo quidem et plano loco, Cic. Caecin. 17, 50: Quid vis in jus me ire? tu's praetor mihi, Plaut. Truc. 4, 3, 66.—2. Transf.
(a). For propraetor, a proprœtor, an officer who, after the administration of the prœtorship, was sent as governor to a province, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 12, § 27; 2, 4, 25, § 56 al.—
Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
praetor ōris, m
for * praeitor; prae+1 I-, a leader, head, chief, president, chief magistrate, chief executive, commander : se praetores appellari volebant (the chief magistrates of Capua): maximus, L.: creant praetores, qui exercitui praeessent, generals , N.—In Rome, a praetor, magistrate charged with the administration of justice (first appointed B.C. 367, from the patricians; plebeians became eligible after B.C. 338; after B.C. 264 two were chosen each year, one with jurisdiction over citizens, the other over strangers): urbanus: urbis: cum praetores designati sortirentur, had their jurisdiction assigned by lot : praetor primus centuriis cunctis renunciatus, i. e. appointed first.—A propraetor, ex-praetor as governor of a province : dicto audientem fuisse se praetori.— A proconsul .
Origins
From earlier *praiitōr. Equal to praeeō + -tor.
Elsewhere
- Catalanpretor
- Frenchpréteurfrom Old French pretor
- Italianpretore
- Portuguesepretor
- Spanishpretor
- Galicianpretor
- Byzantine Greekπραίτωρ
→ Old Francoprovençal
- Franco-Provençalprétor
In English words that came into English from praetor
- praetorpraetor
- praetorianpraetōriānus
- propraetorprōpraetor
- pretoriumpraetorium