Meaning of prehumous | Babel Free

Definitions

Before death.

not-comparable

Examples

“There are certainly the portraits of men among them who, like⟳ the bad king that, according to his prehumous epitaph, never did a good thing, and therefore have⟳ no business in the good company in which we find⟳ them.”

“S. Hartley.—The reading public is only too prone to give⟳ posthumous laurels to those to whom it would hardly give⟳ prehumous bread. As far as his fame is concerned, William Maccall has the misfortune not to be in his grave. Many run⟳ out into the wilderness to meet⟳ B. V., and, behold, a greater than B. V. is here, although B. V. is undoubtedly great.”

“He [William Wilson Corcoran] is a rare instance of prehumous liberality, having given away in his lifetime, it is said on good authority, at least $5,000,000.”

“From the prehumous correspondence of Mr. Tarkington which was brought to light⟳ by the whole sad business, Mr. Corbin concluded that the creator of Penrod, like⟳ the creator of Long John Silver, considered the drama an inferior form⟳ of expression.”

““Aye aye, sir,” said Weems gloomily. “A beach room without beer, blondes or any berserkity.” / “That’s my boy,” said the commander approvingly. “Your posthumous awards will make⟳ history, John.” / “I prefer⟳ prehumous beer and blondes,” Weems said, and cut⟳ the motor and they glided[…]”

““Who’s Mike Dunham?” / “Me,” he said calmly. “You see⟳, I’m a painter—or will be one of these days. Probably after I’m dead. But I can’t wait⟳ till then to enjoy⟳ it. So I figure⟳ a little prehumous appreciation of the fact is in order⟳.””

“When a friend warned Paul Kayser, president of El Paso Natural Gas Co., that his blistering pace would one day make⟳ him “fly⟳ apart like⟳ a watch⟳ spring⟳,” the 68-year-old Kayser coolly replied: “Hell, when I die⟳ I’ll run⟳ 15 years on momentum.” / Last⟳ week Paul Kayser increased his prehumous momentum. The Federal Power Commission authorized El Paso to go into a $194 million expansion program⟳, including construction of a 413-mile pipeline from Colorado and New Mexico’s San Juan Basin to the Arizona-California border⟳.”

“This award, which turned out to be prehumous, had an odd result⟳.”

“EDGAR: Your “prehumous” gift…”

“My daughter, who is the mother of two fine prehumous boys asks: “But suppose⟳ an astronaut is killed in orbital flight, why should his widow want⟳ to have⟳ a child after his death?””

“Ormandy, who gave the Philadelphia Orchestra a chinchilla echo, and who is an ideal conductor of Johann Strauss, as well as a specialist in posthumous music such as Tchaikovsky’s Seventh (and even in such prehumous music as Webern’s Im Sommerwind);[…]”

“ALEX KATZ edited by Bill Berkson and Irving Sandler. Praeger. $12.50 / Very little book for the price, unless you are passionately interested in the work⟳ of Alex Katz — or, rather, the gossip that seems to flow⟳ endlessly out of, within and around Katz’s close⟳ circle of admirers, many of whom are contributors to this prehumous eulogy.”

“Penetrating the battalion of poetic portrayal, when he reached across the threshold of the Padmini of utterance, he discovered to his dismay, that she had become⟳ Sati by subjecting herself to the prehumous cremation of cogitation.”

“Prehumous bequests should be made to the Hon. Club Undertaker, R. Gall Inglis.”

“My further presupposition is that the future of Christian theology will demand⟳ of us a God who does not grant one eternal life to remedy an earth beyond divine control⟳, and who did not grant Christ resurrection in posthumous vindication of some prehumous abandonment.”

“It was deemed vital to one’s posthumous career to be as certain as possible that no unwarranted black marks appeared on the Heavenly record⟳ of prehumous deeds.”

“Does the De Vulgari not mark⟳ his term in Hell — in a metaphorical and prehumous Hell, to be sure, but a Hell where his suffering must have⟳ been no less painful than that reputedly inflicted in the real and posthumous one?”

“The fact that my profession gives me a prehumous funeral is not important to the main point⟳, and there is nothing that you can do about that because the job is already done.”

“Thus, according to the French geneticist and sometime Nobel prizewinner, the late Jacques Monod, our prehumous autobiography is written into our genes, and there is nothing we can say⟳ or do to modify⟳ or change⟳ one title of the inexorable unfolding.”

“Just as Article I of our Constitution now bans the granting of titles of nobility by the United States, so this amendment will ban, in such cases, the granting of pride of place⟳ in the TV or newspaper headlines to members of our pop, political, and industrial elites, while the rest⟳ of us nobodies retain⟳ our "prehumous" anonymity as units toted up in a two-digit number⟳.”

“All too often we have⟳ to wait⟳ until a quiet genius like⟳ [Saul] Steinberg dies before we read⟳ a tribute to his life and work⟳, and that is a shame. Like⟳ Ronald Searle, Al Hirschfeld, and Edward Gorey (to name⟳ three of his brethren), he is more than deserving of—to coin a word—pre'''humous homage.”

“We have⟳ heard of posthumous compositions (published, not written, after the composer’s death), but up to now we have⟳ not encountered prehumous compositions.”

“This, I divined, was Bob Carr’s prehumous bedside manner, his own⟳ private system of glad tidings when visiting the doomed, or their grieving widows.”

“The culmination of Trimalchio’s morbid desire for a prehumous taste⟳ of posthumous flattery is his staging of a mock-wake: “Pretend⟳ I’m dead and say⟳ something nice,” he bids his guests, adopting an appropriate position.”

“Such an approach⟳ has its advantages, if not for the historian, then for the author, as we are told by Robert Musil in the introduction to the slender volume of unpublished writings he assembled under the title Nachlass zu Lebzeiten, or roughly, “Prehumous Papers.””

“No other Black man in history has pulled off such a “prehumous” accomplishment (as distinct from a posthumous elegy).”

“I’ll risk⟳ it anyway. I’ll publish⟳ prehumously. Why not call⟳ it: Prehumous Unpoetic Poems?”

“[…]my Opus -I, my Opus Prehumous if you want⟳, if you will, Schneidermann he said:[…]”

“I copied page after page of these works in longhand into my working notebook, Prehumous Writings, and they had a profound effect on me.”

“Posthumous papers may come⟳ with the connotation of having been abandoned and therefore of being disorderly, involving a lack of control⟳ by the writer; they may, then, seem like⟳ a ‘more complete⟳’ archive in one way, as the death of the author might preclude any destruction of parts of the papers. Contrary to that, ‘prehumous papers’ (as it were) strike⟳ one as involving more care, since the process⟳ of donation is a voluntary one, and therefore might give⟳ the impression that the author’s consent is evidence of candour.”

CEFR level