a meteor, consisting of an exhalation thrown from the clouds downwards with such violence, as that by the collision it is set on fire. The word is Greek, πρεστήρας, the name of a kind of serpent, called also diaplas, to which this meteor is supposed to bear a resemblance. The prester differs from the thunderbolt in the manner of its inflammation; and in its burning and breaking everything it touches with greater violence.

a word used by some to express the external part of the neck, which is usually inflated in anger.