What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Pray vs Prat - What's the difference?

pray | prat |

In obsolete terms the difference between pray and prat

is that pray is to ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for while prat is cunning, astute.

As a verb pray

is to petition or solicit help from a supernatural or higher being.

As an adverb pray

is please; used to make a polite request.

As a noun prat is

a cunning or mischievous trick; a prank, a joke.

As an adjective prat is

cunning, astute.

pray

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To petition or solicit help from a supernatural or higher being.
    • Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca.
  • To humbly beg a person for aid or their time.
  • (religion) to communicate with God for any reason.
  • (obsolete) To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I know not how to pray your patience.

    Derived terms

    * prayer * pray in aid

    Adverb

    (-)
  • please; used to make a polite request.
    • pray silence for…
  • * 1816 , (Jane Austen), , Volume 1 Chapter 8
    • "Pray , Mr. Knightley," said Emma, who had been smiling to herself through a great part of this speech, "how do you know that Mr. Martin did not speak yesterday?"
  • * Charles Dickens, , 1841:
    • Pray''' don’t ask me why, '''pray''' don’t be sorry, '''pray don’t be vexed with me!
  • * Frederick Marryat, , 1845:
    • Well, Major, pray tell us your adventures, for you have frightened us dreadfully.
  • * 1892 , (Arthur Conan Doyle),
    • Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most interesting statement.
  • * 2013 , Martina Hyde, Is the pope Catholic?'' (in ''The Guardian , 20 September 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/20/is-pope-catholic-atheists-gay-people-abortion]
    • He is a South American, so perhaps revolutionary spirit courses through Francis's veins. But what, pray , does the Catholic church want with doubt?

    prat

    English

    Alternative forms

    * pratt

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) prat, from (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
    • Related terms
    * (l)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Cunning, astute.

    • Etymology 2

    Origin unknown. Perhaps a specialised note of Etymology 1 (see above).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (slang) A buttock, or the buttocks; a person's bottom.
  • *Thomas Dekker , 1608 , The Canters Dictionarie'' in ''The Belman of London'' (second part ''Lanthorne and Candlelight )
  • *:Pratt , a Buttock.
  • *1982 , (TC Boyle), Water Music , Penguin 2006, p. 5:
  • *:Mungo didn't like their attitude. Nor did he like exposing his prat in mixed company.
  • (UK, slang) A fool.
  • (slang) The female genitals.
  • *1967 (sourced to 1942), William A. Schwartz, The Limerick: 1700 Examples with Notes, Variants and Examples Vol 1, Greenleaf Classics 1967, p. 124:
  • *:"She's a far better piece
    Than the Viceroy's niece,
    Who has also more fur on her prat."
  • *1984 John Murray, ed, Panurge , Vol 1–3, p. 39:
  • *:"...they would kidnap a girl and take her back to their camp where they would pull down her knickers, hoping to find hairs on her prat."
  • *2005 Sherrie Seibert Goff, The Arms of Quirinus , iUniverse 2005, p. 135:
  • *:"My prat was sore from the unfamiliar activities of the night before, but my virgin bleeding had ceased, and we rode most of the day in that unworldly haze that comes with lack of sleep."
    • Synonyms
    * See also * See also
    Derived terms
    * pratfall * prat about * prattery (rare) * prattish (rare)

    Anagrams

    * part * rapt * tarp * trap

    References

    * pratt'', in Sex-Lexis.com by Farlex. ----