Prevenge: the act of getting one's retaliation in first.

Hughes draws on this ancient concept and suggests that the jaguar calls up his rage to wear himself out from within to annihilate and free himself from his condition of enslavement — not to the bars but to his condition of 'jaguarness' which imprisons him […]

Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons. –

An allegorical application.