Definition of "prior"

From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Arya rushed to do the same with an approaching King Robert Baratheon, the series is calling back to its beginning, suggesting (at least for now) that the wheel continues to turn, sending us back into a pattern begun seven seasons prior.

2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 18 December 2020

‘And a little later we get the routine report on his prints from Washington, and he's got a prior back in Indiana, attempted hold-up six years ago.’

1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 53

During each of these touchpoints, I'm asking myself where and how my thesis on each holding could be wrong. I'm checking each data point as it comes in against my priors. I'm comparing management behavior to what I would be doing if I were in their shoes.

2022 July 29, “Maran Partners Fund Q2 2022 Letter”, in Seeking Alpha‎

The votes are in, and our priors are confirmed. The truth is that midterms are nearly as predictable as death and taxes: The party that controls the White House always loses and often badly at that.

2022 November 8, Alex Shephard, “The Cards Were Always Stacked Against Democrats”, in New Republic‎

Mostly because the evidence confirms all my priors.

2022 December 6, David Harsanyi, “Why Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Matter”, in The Federalist‎