adverb
prius
prius (comparative, positive prae, superlative prīmō, adjective prior)
Classical[ˈpri.ʊs]Ecclesiastical[ˈpriː.us]
№ 484 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- comparativepreviously
- comparativebefore
Eo cum pervenisset, ad reliquas legiones mittit priusque omnes in unum locum cogit quam de eius adventu Arvernis nuntiari posset.
When he arrived there, he sends information to the rest of the legions, and gathers all his army into one place before intelligence of his arrival could be announced to the Arverni.58–49 BCE, Julius Caesar and Aulus Hirtius, chapter VII, in Commentarii de Bello Gallico, page 9:
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- prae se agere hostem
- to drive the enemy before one.
- speciem prae se ferre
- to give the impression of...; have the outward aspect of...
- prae lacrimis loqui non posse
- to be unable to speak for emotion.
- magnam doctrinae speciem prae se ferre
- to pass as a man of great learning.
- nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)
- there is nothing I am more interested in than...
prĭus and prĭusquam, v. prior, adv.
Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
prius adv. comp.
sing n. of prior, before, sooner, first, previously : ut prius introieram, sic prius exire de vitā: ut vos prius experti estis, L.: prius . . . nunc, V.: prius . . . tum, L.—With quam (often written priusquam), earlier than, sooner than, before that, before : prius quam dicere incipio, querar, etc.: neque prius fugere destiterunt, quam ad flumen pervenerunt, Cs.: prius quam aggrediar, etc.: cum prius gladios videret, quam quae res esset vidisset.— Sooner, rather : quamvis carnificinam prius subierint, quam ibim violent.