n. 1. A monastic officer in charge of a priory or ranking next below the abbot of an abbey. 2. One of the ruling magistrates of the medieval Italian republic of Florence. [Middle English priour, from Old English and Old French prior, both from Medieval Latin, from Latin, superior; see per1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] prior·ate (-ĭt), prior·ship′ (-shĭp′) n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.