Preposition

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Preposition \Prep`o*si"tion\, n. [L. praepositio, fr. praeponere
     to place before; prae before + ponere to put, place: cf. F.
     pr['e]position. See {Position}, and cf. {Provost}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (Gram.) A word employed to connect a noun or a pronoun, in
        an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word; a


        particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in
        the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other
        word; -- so called because usually placed before the word
        with which it is phrased; as, a bridge of iron; he comes
        from town; it is good for food; he escaped by running.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A proposition; an exposition; a discourse. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He made a long preposition and oration. --Fabyan.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  preposition
       n 1: a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun
            phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an
            adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word
       2: (linguistics) the placing of one linguistic element before
          another (as placing a modifier before the word it modifies
          in a sentence or placing an affix before the base to which
          it is attached)

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  28 Moby Thesaurus words for "preposition":
     adjectival, adjective, adverb, adverbial, adversative conjunction,
     attributive, conjunction, conjunctive adverb,
     coordinating conjunction, copulative, copulative conjunction,
     correlative conjunction, disjunctive, disjunctive conjunction,
     exclamatory noun, form class, form word, function class, gerundive,
     interjection, part of speech, participle, particle,
     past participle, perfect participle, present participle,
     subordinating conjunction, verbal adjective