Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

prae-verto or -vorto, ti, 3, v. a., and (only in present tense) praevertor or -vortor (inf. pass. paragog. praevortier, Plaut. Am. 3, 2, 39), 3, v. dep.

  1. I. To prefer: ne me uxorem praevertisse dicant prae republicā, Plaut. Am. 1, 3, 29: si vacas animo, neque habes aliquid, quod huic sermoni praevertendum putes, Cic. Div. 1, 6, 10; Gell. 4, 3, 2.
  2. II. To go before, precede, outstrip, outrun.
    1. A. Lit. (poet.): cursu pedum ventos, Verg. A. 7, 807: equo ventos, id. ib. 12, 345: volucremque fugā praevertitur Eurum, id. ib. 1, 317: vestigia cervae, Cat. 64, 341; Stat. Th. 5, 691.
    2. B. Trop.
      1. 1. To be beforehand with, to anticipate; with acc., to prevent, make useless: nostra omnis lis est: pulcre praevortar viros, will anticipate, be beforehand with them (cf. praevenio), Plaut. Cas. 2, 8, 75: aggerem et vineas egit, turresque admovit: quorum usum forte oblata opportunitas praevertit, has rendered useless, Liv. 8, 16: praevertunt, inquit, me fata, prevent me, Ov. M. 2, 657: celeri praevertit tristia leto, Luc. 8, 29: quae absolvi, quoniam mors praeverterat, nequiverunt, Gell. 17, 10, 6.
      2. 2. To take possession of beforehand, to preoccupy, prepossess: vivo tentat praevertere amore Jampridem resides animos, to prepossess, Verg. A. 1, 722; cf.: neque praevorto poculum, take before my turn, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 59.
      3. 3. To surpass in worth, outweigh, exceed, to be preferable, of more importance: erilis praevertit metus, Plaut. Am. 5, 1, 16: quoniam pietatem amori tuo video praevortere, outweigh, exceed, id. Ps. 1, 3, 59: nec posse, cum hostes prope ad portas essent, bello praevertisse quicquam, Liv. 2, 24.
      4. 4. To turn one’s attention first or principally to, to do first or in preference to any thing else, to despatch first; used esp. in the dep.
          1. (α) With dat.: rei mandatae omnes sapientes primum praevorti decet, to apply themselves principally to it, to despatch it first, Plaut. Merc. 2, 3, 40: ei rei primum praevorti volo, id. Capt. 2, 3, 100: stultitia est, cui bene esse licet, cum praevorti litibus, to occupy one’s self with contentions, id. Pers. 5, 2, 20: cave, pigritiae praevorteris, do not give yourself up to indolence, id. Merc. 1, 2, 3: etsi ab hoste discedere detrimentosum esse existimabat, tamen huic rei praevertendum existimavit, Caes. B. G. 7, 33.
          2. (β) With acc., to do or attend to in preference: hoc praevortar principio, Plaut. Ps. 2, 2, 8: si quid dictum est per jocum, non aequom est, id te serio praevortier, to take it in earnest, id. Am. 3, 2, 39; Liv. 8, 13: aliud in praesentia praevertendum sibi esse dixit, that must be attended to first, id. 35, 33.
            Pass.: praevorti hoc certum est rebus aliis omnibus, Plaut. Cist. 5, 1, 8.
          3. (γ) With ad, to apply one’s self particularly to any thing: si quando ad interna praeverterent, Tac. A. 4, 32; so, praevertor, dep.: nunc praevertemur ad nostrum orbem, Plin. 28, 9, 33, § 123: nunc praevertemur ad differentias aeris, id. 34, 8, 20, § 94: ad ea praeverti, Col. 3, 7: hostes ad occursandum pugnandumque in eos praevertentur, Gell. 3, 7, 6.
          4. (δ) With an adverb of place: illuc praevertamur, let us first of all look at this, Hor. S. 1, 3, 38.
            (ε) With a rel.-clause; proximum erat narrare glandiferas quoque, ni praeverti cogeret admiratio, quaenam esset vita sine arbore ullā, Plin. H. N. 16, praef. § 1.
            (ζ) Absol.: in rem quod sit, praevortaris, potius quam, etc., do, perform, attend to, Plaut. Ps. 1, 3, 8.