English

Adjective

preprandial

1. Of, relating to or occurring during the time before dinner.
   • 1975, The Use of English, Volumes 27-28, page 163,

     In its depth of feeling, that last of Russell's sentences on 'the girl' stands out as the most preprandial in world literature; I can see Russell now, dashing it off, for his book, before rushing off to a luncheon meeting […] .

   • 2007, Daniel Kehlmann, Measuring the World, page 251,

     Gauss laid aside his pipe, pulled his velvet cap over the back of his head, returned the Russian dictionary and the little volume of Pushkin to the shelf, and prepared to go for his preprandial walk.

   • 2007, Margarita de Veciana, Arthur T. Evans, 17: Endocrine Disorders: Diabetes, Arthur T. Evans (editor), Manual of Obstetrics, page 285,

     Patients who demonstrate significant insulin resistance at diagnosis and require insulin therapy may alternate preprandial and postprandial evaluations to enable more rapid optimization of control by using an additional supplemental insulin sliding scale as needed to cover preprandial hyperglycaemia (>100 ml per dl) (see below).

   • 2008, Ann M. Manzardo, Donald W. Goodwin, Jan L. Campbell, Elizabeth C. Penick, William F. Gabrielli, Jr., Alcoholism, page 47,

     Social drinkers (as they are sometimes called) may have excellent control over the amount they drink and still look forward to a preprandial aperitif (and miss it when they do not get one).

   • 2010, Johannes Zschocke, D8: Function Tests, Georg F. Hoffmann, Johannes Zschocke, William L. Nyhan (editors), Inherited Metabolic Diseases: A Clinical Approach, page 347,

     The standardized analysis of metabolic parameters in the preprandial and postprandial state may provide important functional clues for the diagnosis of metabolic disorders.

Synonyms

• (of, relating to or occurring during the time before dinner): predinner

Related terms

• anteprandial
• postprandial
• prandial

Noun

preprandial ‎(plural preprandials)

1. An apéritif; a predinner drink.
   • 1974, Chicago Guide, Volume 23, page 143,

     They drink, for one thing, sweet ports as preprandials, anathema to most English, who consider them digestifs, or after-dinner company.

   • 1978, Horizon, Volume 21, page 189,

     Why have people forsaken martinis, Manhattans, old fashioneds, and other preprandials of long-standing popularity?

   • 1991, Bernard Bannerman, Judges Song, 2009, unnumbered page,

     'How's Allison?' I asked over preprandials. He smiled as I ordered Southern Comfort — no ice, no soda; he liked the idea that some things don't change.

   • 2006, Jilly Best, Call Me MR Mystic, page 20,

     Why they carried out this heinous act I never knew, as they both died of one-too-many preprandials within a year of each other and neither had been coherent for many years beforehand.