Hypertext Webster Gateway: "preposition"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Preposition \Prep`o*si"tion\, n. [L. praepositio, fr. praeponere
to place before; prae before + ponere to put, place: cf. F.
pr['e]position. See {Position}, and cf. {Provost}.]
1. (Gram.) A word employed to connect a noun or a pronoun, in
an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word; a
particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in
the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other
word; -- so called because usually placed before the word
with which it is phrased; as, a bridge of iron; he comes
from town; it is good for food; he escaped by running.
2. A proposition; an exposition; a discourse. [Obs.]
He made a long preposition and oration. --Fabyan.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
preposition
n 1: a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun
phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an
adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word
2: (linguistics) the placing of one linguistic element before
another (as placing a modifier before the word it modifies
in a sentence or placing an affix before the base to which
it is attached)
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