presto

From Italian presto (“quickly”).

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

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

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

presto (not comparable)

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

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.

• abracadabra

presto (uncountable)

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

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

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

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

Borrowed from Italian presto.

presto

1. (music) presto

presto m (plural prestos)

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

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

Borrowed from Italian presto.

• IPA^(key): /pʁɛs.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

presto

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

• illico presto

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

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɛs.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsto
• Hyphenation: prè‧sto

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

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!

• → French: preste

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

• → English: presto
• → Ladino: presto

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

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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestare

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

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

Inherited from Old Spanish presto, from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Compare Catalan prest, French prêt, Italian presto.

presto (Hebrew spelling פריסטו)^[1]

1. quick; swift
   • 1996, Sara Benveniste Benrey, edited by Yossi Benbenisty, Espertando el djudeo espanyol: poemas realidas i philosophia, kantes, sketches, piesas de teatro‎^[1], Yossi Benbenisty, page 157:

     Mira, no agas echos prestos i arepentidos, pensa bueno!

     Look, don’t make things quick and contrite, think positive!

   • 1999, Los Muestros‎^[2], numbers 34–6, R. Capuia, page 41:

     En la guerta kemada
     Asentada la fija
     Pasharon prestos
     Apretan su korason.

     In the burnt garden sat the daughter; the quick [ones] passed, [and] they distress her heart.

presto (Hebrew spelling פריסטו)^[1]

1. soon
   • 1940, La boz de Türkiye‎^[3], numbers 11–34, page 259:

     Para arivar a este resultado, es menester de activar las discusiones y concluir el acordo lo mas presto possible, afin que el fabrikator tenga el tiempo menesterozo : […]

     To arrive at this result, it is necessary to begin the discussions and conclude the agreement as soon as possible so that the producer has the time needed.

2. early
   • 2006, Matilda Koén-Sarano, Por el plazer de kontar‎^[4], Nur Afakot, page 36:

     Pensas de no poder eskrivir presto? No emporta. I yo empesí avagar avagar. Tinía katorze anyos. I saves porké para mí fue mas fasil? Porké de la edá de diez anyos yo tanyía el piano.

     You think that you can’t write early? Whatever. I started very slowly. I was fourteen years old. And you know why it was easier for me? Because at age ten I was playing the piano.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

presto (Hebrew spelling פריסטו)

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar
2. third-person singular preterite indicative of prestar

Borrowed from Italian presto (“ready”).

presto

1. (music) presto

presto m (definite singular prestoen, indefinite plural prestoer, definite plural prestoene)

1. music being played presto

• Prior to a revision in 2020, this noun was also considered grammatically neuter.^[1]

• “presto” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from Italian presto (“ready”).

presto

1. (music) presto

presto m (definite singular prestoen, indefinite plural prestoar, definite plural prestoane)

1. music being played presto

• “presto” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Inherited from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Cognate with Old Spanish presto.

presto

1. quick; swift
2. prepared; ready

• Portuguese: presto

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “presto”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “presto”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Inherited from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Cognate with Old Galician-Portuguese presto.

presto

1. prepared; ready

presto

1. soon

• Ladino: presto, פריסטו
• Spanish: presto

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

• Ralph Steele Boggs et al. (1946) “presto”, in Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, volume II, Chapel Hill, page 408

• Rhymes: -ɛstu, -ɛʃtu
• Hyphenation: pres‧to

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese presto, from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Compare Catalan prest, French prêt, Italian presto. The meaning pertaining to music comes from Italian presto.

presto (feminine presta, masculine plural prestos, feminine plural prestas)

1. quick; swift; prompt
2. ready; prepared

presto

1. immediately; promptly
2. right away; at once
3. (music) presto

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

Unadapted borrowing from Italian presto.

presto

1. presto

• prijéstō, prijéstol (Ijekavian)
• pristō, pristol (Ikavian)

From Proto-Slavic *perstolъ.

prȅstō m inan (Cyrillic spelling пре̏сто̄)

1. throne

• prijéstōlje

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾesto/ [ˈpɾes.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -esto
• Syllabification: pres‧to

Inherited from Old Spanish presto, from Late Latin praestus, from the adverb praestō. Compare Catalan prest, French prêt, Italian presto. The meaning pertaining to music comes from Italian presto.

presto (feminine presta, masculine plural prestos, feminine plural prestas)

1. quick; swift; prompt
2. ready; prepared

presto

1. immediately; promptly; soon
2. (music) presto
3. right away; at once

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

• “presto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024