prior

from The Century Dictionary.

• Preceding, as in the order of time, of thought, of origin, of dignity, or of importance; in law, senior in point of time: as, a prior and a junior incumbrance.
• Previous: used adverbially, followed by to, like previous. See previous, a.
• noun A superior officer; a superior.
• noun Formerly, in Italy, a chief magistrate, as in the medieval republic of Florence.
• noun Synonyms Abbot, Prior. See def. .

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective Preceding in the order of time; former; antecedent; anterior; previous
• adjective First, precedent, or superior in the order of cognition, reason or generality, origin, development, rank, etc.
• noun informal a prior conviction; -- said of an accused criminal.
• noun (Eccl.) The superior of a priory, and next below an abbot in dignity.
• noun a chief magistrate, as in the republic of Florence in the middle ages.
• noun a prior who is at the head of his own house. See the Note under Priory.
• noun an official next in rank to the abbot in a monastery; prior of the cloisters.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Of that which comes before, in advance.
• adjective former, previous
• adverb colloquial Previously.
• noun A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective earlier in time
• noun the head of a religious order; in an abbey the prior is next below the abbot