Hys"te*ron prot"e*ron (?). [NL., fr. Gr. the latter, following + before, others, sooner.] Rhet. (a)
A figure in which the natural order of sense is reversed; hysterology; as, valet atque vivit, "he is well and lives."
(b)
An inversion of logical order, in which the conclusion is put before the premises, or the thing proved before the evidence.
© Webster 1913.