presto

[ pres-toh ]

adverb

1. quickly, rapidly, or immediately.
2. at a rapid tempo (used as a musical direction).

adjective

1. quick or rapid.
2. executed at a rapid tempo (used as a musical direction).

noun

, plural pres·tos.

1. Music. a movement or piece in quick tempo.

presto

/ ˈprɛstəʊ /

adjective

1. music to be played very fast

adverb

1. immediately, suddenly, or at once (esp in the phrase hey presto )

noun

1. music a movement or passage directed to be played very quickly

Word History and Origins

Origin of presto¹

1590–1600; < Italian: quick, quickly < Late Latin praestus (adj.) ready, Latin praestō (adv.) at hand

Word History and Origins

Origin of presto¹

C16: from Italian: fast, from Late Latin praestus (adj) ready to hand, Latin praestō (adv) present

Example Sentences

And, presto, you have data that become suspicious by the standard he himself defined.

From Washington Post

If you were a toothpaste company, you would donate tubes for all the athletes… and, presto, you were an Olympic sponsor.

From Time

Simply zap water with electricity, and presto, you’ve got hydrogen.

From MIT Technology Review

A shoplifter looks at the camera and presto, police use face recognition to identify a suspect.

From MIT Technology Review

“We used to go for food at a little Italian place on Old Compton Street called Presto,” says Burston.

From The Daily Beast

By simply saying those nine simple words we can magically claim anything for Islam, presto-chango.

From The Daily Beast

And presto: polio returned—first in Nigeria then across Africa and into Asia, following an established migration pattern.

From The Daily Beast

Toss a Cinderella- or Stockholm Syndrome-type victim into the mix and presto!

From The Daily Beast

But these people are wholly on wires; laying their ears down, skimming away, pausing as though shot, and presto!

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Jefferson, happening by mistake to pass over one of the many names of benefactors, and, presto!

From Project Gutenberg

A clerk on a stool, and hey presto plunged into the war a month after, shouldering a gun and marching.

From Project Gutenberg

Then Mrs. Spider came along, and she spun some glossy silk web over the places where the seams were, and presto-chango!

From Project Gutenberg

Victor had much difficulty in reading the notes readily and not confounding the terms adagio, presto, and sforzando.

From Project Gutenberg