Definition of "preprandial"

Whilst meditating on the beauty and design as shown in the ant-eater, whose præprandial movements I was intently watching, a young gentleman (not a naturalist) asked me, sotto voce, "what is that contrivance?" "It is a contrivance," said I, "for catching ants, and that is why he is called the ant-eater," I continued to a young lady, who wanted to know the meaning of his name.

1854, “The Ant-eater”, in Bentley's Miscellany, volume XXXV, London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, page 550

Gauss laid aside his pipe, pulled his velvet cap over the back of his head, returned the Russian dictionary and the little volume of Pushkin to the shelf, and prepared to go for his preprandial walk.

2006, Daniel Kehlmann; Carol Brown Janeway, transl., Measuring the World, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books; republished London: Quercus, 2007, page 251

Patients who demonstrate significant insulin resistance at diagnosis and require insulin therapy may alternate preprandial and postprandial evaluations to enable more rapid optimization of control by using an additional supplemental insulin sliding scale as needed to cover preprandial hyperglycaemia (>100 ml per dl) […].

2007, Margarita de Veciana, Arthur T. Evans, “Endocrine Disorders: Diabetes”, in Arthur T. Evans, editor, Manual of Obstetrics, 7th edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, page 285

Social drinkers (as they are sometimes called) may have excellent control over the amount they drink and still look forward to a preprandial aperitif (and miss it when they do not get one).

2008, Ann M. Manzardo, Donald W. Goodwin, Jan L. Campbell, Elizabeth C. Penick, William F. Gabrielli, Jr., “The Symptoms”, in Alcoholism (The Facts), 4th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 47

The standardized analysis of metabolic parameters in the preprandial and postprandial state may provide important functional clues for the diagnosis of metabolic disorders.

2010, Johannes Zschocke, “Function Tests”, in Georg F. Hoffmann, Johannes Zschocke, William L[eo] Nyhan, editors, Inherited Metabolic Diseases: A Clinical Approach, Heidelberg: Springer, page 347, column 1

The slight increase in pre-prandial and post-prandial bile acids are suggestive of hepatic dysfunction, but other causes of slight elevations, such as pancreatic or gastrointestinal disease, cannot be ruled out.

2015, “Answers”, in Kathleen P. Freeman, Stefanie Klenner, editors, Veterinary Clinical Pathology: A Case-based Approach, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, page 132

They drink, for one thing, sweet ports as preprandials, anathema to most English, who consider them digestifs, or after-dinner company.

1974, Chicago Guide, volume 23, page 143, column 1

Why have people forsaken martinis, Manhattans, old fashioneds, and other preprandials of long-standing popularity?

1978, Horizon, volume 21, New York, N.Y.: American Heritage Publishing Company, page 189

'How's Allison?' I asked over preprandials. He smiled as I ordered Southern Comfort – no ice, no soda; he liked the idea that some things don't change.

1991, Bernard Bannerman, chapter 4, in The Judge's Song, [U.K.]: Sphere Books; republished Sandy, Bedfordshire: Authors OnLine, 2009,