† preˈcelling, ppl. a. Obs.
Also 6 Sc. -and, -end.
[f. precel + -ing2.]
That ‘precels’ or excels; excelling, excellent; surpassing, pre-eminent.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 12 Ther satt a child off beauté precellyng, Middes of the trone, rayed lyke a kyng. Ibid. 21 Be glad, O Londone,..Citee of citees, of noblesse precellyng. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 5980 Than sall that most precelland Kyng Tyll those wrachis mak answeryng. a 1568 W. Stewart in Bannatyne Poems (Hunter. Cl.) 250 Precellend prince! havand prerogatyue As rowy royall in this regioun to ring. 1676 Shadwell Virtuoso ii. Wks. 1720 I. 342 Were I as precelling in physico⁓mechanical investigations, as you in tropical rhetorical flourishes. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 308 The sacred confidence reposed in our representatives confers precelling dignity. |