▪ I. precise, a. (adv.)
(prɪˈsaɪs)
Also: 6 precyse, -syse, -sise, -size, prysyse, 6–7 precize, 7 præcise, 9 Sc. preceese.
[= F. précis, -ise (prescis, 14–15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. præcīsus cut off, abrupt, shortened, pa. pple. of præcīdĕre to cut off (in front), cut short, abridge, f. præ, pre- A. 4 c + cædĕre to cut.]
A. adj.
1. Definitely or strictly expressed; exactly defined; definite, exact; of a person, definite and exact in statement.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 265 There shall be streyte examinacion made, & precyse accountes required for this matter. 1550 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 162 [He] hath..vntill twysdaye next, to make a precyse Aunswer. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 49, I must needes confesse, these reasons of theirs are sifted very depe and very harde, and marueylous precise. 1640 Quarles Enchirid. xviii, That Peace is too precize, that limits the justnesse of a Warre to a Sword drawne or a Blow given. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. ii. 29 It was at last agreed that each Party should, at a precise Time send away two Men on foot. 1775 Harris Philos. Arrangem. Wks. (1841) 353 It is in a sense less strict and precise, that we take the word habit. 1832 Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms Introd. 16 To be precise, it was necessary to be minute. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxv. 638 His instructions had been precise and imperative. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 187 He is very precise about dates and facts. Ibid. IV. 80 Let us then put into more precise terms the question which has arisen. |
† b. Of an instrument: Exact, accurate. Obs.
| 1561 Eden Arte Nauig. ii. xvii. 45, I made experience with a precise Astrolabie. |
c. Of the voice or tone: Distinctly uttered.
| 1848 Dickens Dombey i, In the low precise tone of one who endeavours to awaken a sleeper. |
2. Strict in the observance of rule, form, or usage; formal, correct; punctilious, scrupulous, particular; sometimes, Over-exact, over-nice, fastidious. Also of a practice or action: Strictly observed.
| 1530 Palsgr. 321/1 Precyse, scrupulously circumspecte, precys. 1563 Homilies ii. Prayer i. (1859) 341 As touching the precise keeping of the seventh day after the manner of the Jews. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 426 So the presisest Virgins are to be won when they be young. 1587 Golding De Mornay i. (1592) 11 Mention is made of certeine presize persons, which beleeued nothing but that which they sawe. a 1625 Nebuchadnezzars Fierie Furnace (Harl. MS. 7578 lf. 50), Such fellowes proud who seem to be precise Their fantasies are onely set to please. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 134 The antient Pagans were precise To use no short-tail'd Beast in Sacrifice. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 610 Learned without pride, Exact, yet not precise. 1847 Marryat Childr. N. Forest xiii, He..was very precise about doing his duty. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 65/2 An old bachelor, precise and obstinate. |
b. esp. Strict or scrupulous in religious observance; in 16th and 17th c., puritanical.
| 1566 Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 278 These precise folk would offer their goods and bodies to prison, rather than they would relent. 1589 Marprel. Epit. (1843) 7 In assaulting the fort of our precise brethren. 1657 Sanderson Serm. (1674) 17 The hottest precisest and most scrupulous nonconformer. 1693 Wood Life 15 June (O.H.S.) III. 424 He was too precise and religious. 1694 Atterbury Serm., Prov. xiv. 6 (1726) I. 195 How did they deride that Grave Preacher of Righteousness [Noah], and his Precise Family. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. iii. 167 Those..who favoured the more precise reformers, and looked coldly on the established church. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 312 Men are now called ‘precise’, who will not connive at sin, or allow the levity which plays, mothlike, around it. |
3. Exact; neither more nor less than; perfect, complete: opposed to approximate.
| 1571 Digges Pantom. B ij, A Semicircle..doth conteine..the precise halfe of his circumference. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. iv. 15 A man that seeketh precise truth. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty vii. 39 The precise serpentine line, or line of grace. 1790 Paley Horæ Paul. Rom. ii. 17 The coincidence is not so precise as some others. 1837–8 Sir W. Hamilton Logic xxiv. (1860) II. 14 A definition..should be Precise, that is, contain nothing unessential, nothing superfluous. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. ii. 2 The precise adaptation of the key to every ward of the lock. |
4. Distinguished with precision from all others; identified, pointed out, or stated, with precision or exactness; the precise, the particular, the identical, the very, the exact.
| 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 63 They had taken vp an euill grounded rumor, which, being traced from one to an other, euery time with some additions, came att length to vanish without finding any præcise author. 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 367 The precise day upon which he rose. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, III. x. 221 The Protestants..insisted upon the council's copying the precise words of that instrument. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. i. (ed. 3) 10 The difficulty of finding the precise angle at which the diamond cuts. 1856 Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. iv. 161 The precise character of these chemical changes we have no means of ascertaining. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 48 The precise moment at which a traveller is passing. |
† B. as adv. = precisely. Obs.
| a 1400–30 Chaucer's Astrol. ii. §45 The ȝere of ovre lord 1400, I-wryton [v.r. I wold wyttyn] precise, my rote. 1567 Drant Horace, to Mæcenas F vij, Sum follow so precyse A learned man, that oftentymes they imitate his vyce. 1594 Daniel Compl. Rosamond li, Thus stood I ballanc'd equally precize, Till my fraile flesh did weigh me downe to sin. |
▪ II. precise, v.
(prɪˈsaɪs)
[a. F. préciser to determine exactly, f. précis precise a.]
trans. To make precise or definite; to define precisely or exactly; to particularize. Hence preˈcising vbl. n.
| 1866 T. N. Harper Peace through Truth Ser. i. 252 Direct asseverations..which precise the meaning of terms, which might otherwise be ambiguous. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 139/1 Ask him, General, to precise his accusation against me. 1887 J. C. Morison Service Man ix. 313 Its solution would seem to require a little more precising of what is meant by happiness, than is customary in ethical discussions. |