presto

See also: Presto, prestó, prestò, and přesto

English

Etymology

From Italian presto (“quickly”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛstəʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: prĕs'tō, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛstoʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɛstəʊ

Adverb

presto (not comparable)

1. (music) Very fast or quickly; a directive for the musician(s) to play in a very quick tempo.

Interjection

presto

1. Used by magicians when performing a trick; ta-da; voilà.

   So I put my hand into the hat and presto! Out comes a rabbit!

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 31, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 142:

     You know the old man's ivory leg, well I dreamed he kicked me with it ; and when I tried to kick back, upon my soul, my little man, I kicked my leg right off! And then, presto! Ahab seemed a pyramid, and I, like a blazing fool, kept kicking at it.

Derived terms

• hey presto
• presto change-o
• presto chango

Translations

used by magicians

Portuguese: pronto!

See also

• abracadabra

Noun

presto (uncountable)

1. (poker slang) A pair of fives as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em.

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN

Anagrams

• eSport, opters, tropes, retops, Perots, repots, Petros, e-sport, respot, esport, repost, poster, petros, Strope, stoper, sprote, topers, Portes, opster

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈpɾes.tu]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈpɾes.to]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian presto.

Adverb

presto

1. (music) presto

Noun

presto m (plural prestos)

1. (music) presto (piece played very rapidly)

Etymology 2

Verb

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian presto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɛs.to/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Adverb

presto

1. (music) presto
2. (colloquial) quickly

Derived terms

• illico presto

Further reading

• “presto”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Verb

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɛs.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsto
• Hyphenation: prè‧sto

Etymology 1

From Late Latin praestus, from the Latin praestō (“at hand”, adverb). Compare Catalan prest, French prêt.

Adjective

presto (feminine presta, masculine plural presti, feminine plural preste, superlative prestissimo)

1. (literary) ready
2. (literary) fast; quick; nimble
   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto I”, in Inferno [Hell], lines 31–33; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Ed ecco, quasi al cominciar de l'erta, ¶ una lonza leggera e presta molto, ¶ che di pel macolato era coverta; […]

     And lo! almost where the ascent began, a panther light and swift exceedingly, which with a spotted skin was covered o'er!

Descendants

• → French: preste

Adverb

presto

1. soon

   Synonyms: tra poco, fra poco

   Ritorno presto. ― I will be back soon.

   Potrebbe piovere presto. ― It may rain soon.

2. early

   Synonym: di buon'ora

   Non sono abituata a svegliarmi presto. ― I'm not accustomed to getting up early.

   Se ne andarono presto. ― They left early.

3. quickly

   Synonyms: rapidamente, velocemente

   Spero che ti riprenderai presto. ― I hope you'll recover quickly.

4. (music) presto

Derived terms

• a presto
• al più presto
• il più presto possibile
• prestamente
• prestezza
• prestissimo
• presto o tardi

Descendants

• → English: presto
• → Ladino: presto

Etymology 2

Deverbal from prestare (“to lend”) +‎ -o.

Noun

presto m (plural presti) (archaic)

1. loan

   Synonym: prestito

2. usury (practice of lending money at excessive interest rates)

   Synonym: usura

3. pawnshop

   Synonym: banco dei pegni

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestare

Further reading

• presto¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• presto in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Anagrams

• sperto, sporte, spreto, spretò, sprote, sterpo, sterpò