preacquaint

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

pre- +‎ acquaint

Verb[edit]

preacquaint (third-person singular simple present preacquaints, present participle preacquainting, simple past and past participle preacquainted)

  1. (transitive) To acquaint beforehand.
    • 1633, James Shirley, The Witty Fair One, London: William Cooke, Act I, Scene 1,[1]
      Wor[thy]. [] You haue not made your loue knowne to my Neece yet.
      Aym[well]. No, my intention was to preacquaint you.
    • 1742, Henry Fielding, “What Past between the Lady and Lawyer Scout”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. [], volume II, London: [] A[ndrew] Millar, [], →OCLC, book IV, pages 188–189:
      [S]he inadvertently confirmed many Hints, vvith vvhich Slipſlop, vvhoſe Gallant he vvas, had pre-acquainted him; []
    • 1878, Alexander Melville Bell, The Principles of Elocution[2], Salem, Massachusetts: James P. Burbank, Introduction, p. xx:
      Those things which have been previously stated, or which are necessarily implied, or with which we presume our hearers to have been preacquainted, we pronounce with such a subordination of stress as is suitable to the small importance of things already understood []
    • 1969, Tibor Agoston, Insight Therapy, State of Ohio Department of Mental Hygiene and Correction, Part 4, Chapter 110, p. 215,[3]
      [] we may describe differential dynamics as a gallery of disease patterns that may preacquaint the therapist with the picture which is likely to emerge when all the pieces are fitted together.

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