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:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (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): /ˈprɛ.sto/

• 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]‎^[1], lines 31–33; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[2], 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

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian presto (“ready”).

Adverb

presto

1. (music) presto

Noun

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

1. music being played presto

Usage notes

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

References

• “presto” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian presto (“ready”).

Adverb

presto

1. (music) presto

Noun

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

1. music being played presto

References

• “presto” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɛs.tu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɛs.tu/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɛʃ.tu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɛs.to/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɛʃ.tu/

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

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

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

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

Adverb

presto

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

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian presto.

Adverb

presto

1. presto

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• prijesto (Ijekavian)
• pristo (Ikavian)

Alternative forms

• prijestol (Croatia)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *perstolъ.

Noun

prȅsto m (Cyrillic spelling пре̏сто)

1. throne

Declension

Declension of presto

	singular	plural
nominative	presto	prestoli
genitive	prestola	prestola
dative	prestolu	prestolima
accusative	prjesto	prestole
vocative	prjestole	prestoli
locative	prestolu	prestolima
instrumental	prestolom	prestolima

Derived terms

• prijéstōlje

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

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

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

Adverb

presto

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

Derived terms

• aprestar

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

presto

1. first-person singular present indicative of prestar

Further reading

• “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], 2024 December 10