different between precept vs yardstick

English

Alternative forms

• præcept (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipi? (“to teach”), from Latin prae (“pre-”) + capi? (“take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?i?s?pt/

Noun

precept (plural precepts)

1. A rule or principle, especially one governing personal conduct.
   • 2006: Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language

     I need hardly point out that Pinker doesn't really believe anything of what he writes, at least if example is stronger evidence of belief than precept.
2. (law) A written command, especially a demand for payment.
3. (Britain) An order issued by one local authority to another specifying the rate of tax to be charged on its behalf.
   1. A rate or tax set by a precept.

Translations

Verb

precept (third-person singular simple present precepts, present participle precepting, simple past and past participle precepted)

1. (obsolete) To teach by precepts.
   • 1603, Francis Bacon, Valerius Terminus: Of The Interpretation of Nature

     the axioms of sciences are precepted to be made convertible

References

• “precept”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• percept

Old Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipi? (“to teach”), from prae (“pre-”) + capi? (“take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?r?e??ept/

Noun

precept f (genitive precepte)

1. verbal noun of pridchaid
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 10^d23

   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 21^c19

Inflection

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “precept”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Romanian

Etymology

From French précepte, from Latin praeceptum.

Noun

precept n (plural precepte)

1. precept

Declension

English

Etymology

yard +? stick

Noun

yardstick (plural yardsticks)

1. A measuring rod thirty-six inches (one yard) long.
2. (figuratively) A standard to which other measurements or comparisons are judged.

   Synonyms: norm, point of reference, benchmark, ideal

   • 2008 April 8, Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt, “Attacks in Baghdad spiked in March, U.S. data show”, in International Herald Tribune, 2008 April 8 edition, “Africa & Middle East” section,

     Attacks against civilians in the capital remained relatively unchanged: 69 in March from 62 in February. ¶ However, another yardstick, the number of civilian deaths tracked by the Iraqi government, shot up last month after several months of decline.

Derived terms

• Portsmouth yardstick

Translations

Further reading

• yardstick on Wikipedia.Wikipedia