prelibation

[pree-lahy-bey-shuhn]

noun

1. a foretaste.

prelibation

/ ˌpriːlaɪˈbeɪʃən /

noun

1. rare,  an advance taste or sample; foretaste

Word History and Origins

Origin of prelibation¹

1520–30; < Late Latin praelībātiōn- (stem of praelībātiō ) a foretaste, anticipation, equivalent to praelībāt ( us ) (past participle of praelībāre to taste beforehand) + -iōn- -ion. See pre-, libation

Word History and Origins

Origin of prelibation¹

C16: from Late Latin praelībātiō a tasting beforehand, offering of the first fruits, from Latin prae before + lībāre to taste

Example Sentences

Prelibation, prē-lī-bā′shun, n. a tasting beforehand, foretaste.

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There he enjoys summer and winter pure and unalloyed by any tedious interruptions: a Swedish spring, which is always a late one, is no repetition, in a lower key, of the harshness of winter, but anticipates, and is a prelibation of, perfect summer,--laden with blossoms,--radiant with the lily and the rose: insomuch, that a Swedish summer night represents implicitly one half of Italy, and a winter night one half of the world beside.

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Rich prelibation of consummate joy!

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The horror of life mixed itself already in earliest youth with the heavenly sweetness of life; that grief, which one in a hundred has sensibility enough to gather from the sad retrospect of life in its closing stage, for me shed its dews as a prelibation upon the fountains of life whilst yet sparkling to the morning sun.

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The progressive improvement of the human family is a delightful subject for meditation, giving us, perhaps, a prelibation of the joys of futurity, and animating us to contribute our aid, trifling as it may be, to the melioration of the condition of our country.

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