An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A font used for printing. See also → screen font.

→ printer; → font.

1) Preceding in time or in order; earlier or former; previous.
2) Preceding in importance or privilege.

O.E., from M.L. prior "former, previous, first, superior," comparative of O.L. pri "before," from PIE *prai-, *prei-, from root *per- "forward, through," → pro-.

Parin, from pra-, fra- "before, forward, forth," cognate with Gk. and L. → pro-.

The condition or quality of being earlier in time or occurrence, or being regarded as more important.

→ prior; → -ity.

Optics: A transparent solid body, having at least two polished plane faces inclined relative to each other, from which light is reflected or through which light is refracted.
Geometry: A solid having two faces lying in parallel planes and with the other faces parallelograms.

L.L. prisma, from Gk. prisma, literally "something sawed," from prizein "to saw."

Manšur, etymology not clear, may be related to Ar. mawšur "prism," of unknown origin.

The angle between the faces on which light is incident and from which it emerges.

→ prism; → angle.

An optical device consisting of a pair of small telescopes mounted side by side, each telescope having two prisms between the eyepiece and objective for erecting the image.

→ prism; → binoculars.

An ocular equipped with a prism that forms an upright image in an astronomical telescope.

→ prism; → ocular.

An instrument used to determine the precise timing of a star's passage across a vertical circle. It is used for making precise determinations of the positions of stars and planets, and can be used inversely to determine the latitude and longitude of the observer, assuming the star positions are accurately known. It consists of an accurate prism, a small pool of mercury to serve as an artificial horizon. The most notable example of this type of instrument is that of → Danjon astrolabe.

Adj. of → prism + → astrolabe.

The spectrum formed by a dispersing prism or a dispersing prism system.

Adj. of → prism + → spectrum.

The state of being private.

Noun from → private.

Pertaining to or affecting a particular person or a small group of persons; individual; → personal (Dictionary.com).

L. privatus "set apart, peculiar, personal," used in contrast to publicus, p.p. of privare "to separate, deprive, to rob" from privus "one's own, individual."

Vâvan, literally "separated, not bound," from vâ- separation prefix, → de-, + van, contraction of vand, band, from vastan, bastan "to bind, fasten, close," → band.

The transfer from public to private ownership.

→ private; → -tion.

To transfer from public to private ownership and control.

→ private; → -ize.

A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group (OxfordDictionaries.com).

M.E., from O.Fr. privilege "right, priority, privilege" and directly from L. privilegium "law applying to one person, bill of law in favor of or against an individual," from privus "individual," → private.

Fardâré, from far- intensive prefix "much, abundant; elegantly," → perfect, + dâr present stem of dâštan "to have, possess," → property, + noun/relation suffix -é.

Having special rights, advantages, or immunities.

Adjective from → privilege.

A prefix of priority in space or time having especially a meaning of advancing or projecting forward or outward.

From L. pro "in favor of, in place of, before, for," also in some cases from cognate Gk. pro "before, in front of," both from PIE base *por- "forward, through;" cf. Pers. farâ-, as below; Gk. para- "from beside, against, beyond;" Goth. faura "before," O.E. fore "before, for, on account of."

Farâ- "forward, along; above, upon, over; before, foremost, opposing, facing," variant far- intensive prefix "much, abundant; elegantly," from Mid.Pers. fra-; O.Pers. fra- "forward, forth;" Av. frā, fərā-, fra- "forward, forth; before; excessive" (fratəma- "first, front," pouruua- "first," fra-cara- "preceding"); cf. Skt. prá- "before; forward, in fron," prathama- "earliest, initial," pūrva- "first;" Gk. pro; L. pro, as above.

1) General: The quality or fact of being probable. A strong → likelihood or chance of something.
2) Statistics: The branch of → mathematics that studies the possible outcomes of given events and their relative distributions. → probability theory.

From → probable + → -ity.

A curve that describes the distribution of probability over the values of a random variable.

→ probability; → curve.

A mathematical function whose integral over any interval gives the probability that a continuous → random variable has values in this interval. Also known as → density function, frequency function, → probability function.

→ probability; → density; → function.

The function that describes the range of possible values that a random variable can attain and the probability that the value of the random variable is within any (measurable) subset of that range.

→ probability; → distribution.