Word.ws English Dictionary

preb.

preb. is the abbreviation of prebend.

preb. is the abbreviation of prebendary.

Meaning of prebend

Noun

prebend (plural prebends)

  1. (obsolete) A stipend paid to a canon of a cathedral.
  2. (obsolete) The property or other source of this endowment.
    • He is said to have added prebends to Southwell; it is more probable that he gave estates to the church which were afterwards made into separate prebends.1885, “Aldred (d.1069)”, in Leslie Stephen, editor, Dictionary of National Biography, William Hunt, Volume 1
  3. Political patronage employment.
  4. (obsolete) A prebendary.
    • a lease of the prebend of Withingtonc. 1593, Francis Bacon, letter to Sir Thomas Coneysby

See all 5 meanings of prebend

Meaning of prebendary

Noun

prebendary (plural prebendaries)

  1. An honorary canon of a cathedral or collegiate church.
    • Among the prebendaries have been men eminent for their learning and piety: as Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Winchester, Dr. Sherlock, Archdeacon Paley, and the Rev. William Beloe, B.D. well known by his translation of Herodotus.1832 May 12, various authors, “St Pancras (Old) Church”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, volume 19, number 546

See all 3 meanings of prebendary

Forms of preb.

pluralprebs.

Questions about preb.

What is preb. the abbreviation of?
Preb. is the abbreviation of prebend.

Words near preb. in the dictionary

  1. preaxial polydactyly
  2. preaxially
  3. preaxostylar
  4. preaxostylid
  5. preaxostylids
  6. preb.
  7. prebaby
  8. prebachelor
  9. prebagged
  10. prebait
  11. prebaited

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: preb. (page history and authors); prebend (page history and authors); prebendary (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “preb..” Word.ws, https://word.ws/preb.. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.