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.