Prodigality Prod`i·gal"i·ty noun [ French
prodigalité , Latin
prodigalitas . See
Prodigal .]
Extravagance in expenditure, particularly of money; excessive liberality; profusion; waste; -- opposed to frugality , economy , and parsimony . "The
prodigality of his wit."
Dryden.
Prodigalize Prod"i·gal·ize intransitive verb To act as a prodigal; to spend liberally. Sherwood.
Prodigalize Prod"i·gal·ize transitive verb To expend lavishly. Ld. Lytton.
Prodigally Prod"i·gal·ly adverb In a prodigal manner; with profusion of expense; extravagantly; wasteful; profusely; lavishly; as, an estate prodigally dissipated. Nature not bounteous now, but lavish grows;
Our paths with flowers she prodigally strows.
Dryden.
Prodigate Prod"i·gate transitive verb To squander. Thackeray.
Prodigence Prod"i·gence noun [ Latin
prodigentia , from
prodigens , present participle of
prodigere . See
Prodigal . ]
Waste; profusion; prodigality. [ R.]
Bp. Hall.
Prodigious Pro·di"gious adjective [ Latin
prodigiosus , from
prodigium a prodigy; confer French
prodigieux . See
Prodigy .]
1. Of the nature of a prodigy; marvelous; wonderful; portentous. [ Obsolete or R.]
Spenser. It is prodigious to have thunder in a clear sky.
Sir T. Browne. 2. Extraordinary in bulk, extent, quantity, or degree; very great; vast; huge; immense; as, a prodigious mountain; a prodigious creature; a prodigious blunder. "
Prodigious might."
Milton. Syn. -- Huge; enormous; monstrous; portentous; marvelous; amazing; astonishing; extraordinary.
Prodigiously Pro·di"gious·ly adverb 1. Enormously; wonderfully; astonishingly; as, prodigiously great. 2. Very much; extremely; as, he was prodigiously pleased. [ Colloq.]
Pope.
Prodigiousness Pro·di"gious·ness noun The quality or state of being prodigious; the state of having qualities that excite wonder or astonishment; enormousness; vastness.
Prodigy Prod"i·gy noun ;
plural Prodigies . [ Latin
prodigium ;
pro before + (perh.) a word appearing in
adagium adage: confer French
prodige . Confer
Adage . ]
1. Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies . So many terrors, voices, prodigies ,
May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign.
Milton. 2. Anything so extraordinary as to excite wonder or astonishment; a marvel; as, a prodigy of learning. 3. A production out of ordinary course of nature; an abnormal development; a monster. B. Jonson. Syn. -- Wonder; miracle; portent; marvel; monster.
Prodition Pro·di"tion noun [ Latin
proditio , from
prodere to give forth, betray: confer Old French
prodition .]
Disclosure; treachery; treason. [ Obsolete]
Ainsworth.
Proditor Prod"i·tor noun [ Latin ]
A traitor. [ Obsolete]
Proditorious Prod`i·to"ri·ous adjective [ Confer Old French
proditoire .]
1. Treacherous; perfidious; traitorous. [ Obsolete]
Daniel. 2. Apt to make unexpected revelations. [ Obsolete] "Nature is
proditorious ."
Sir H. Wotton.
Proditory Prod"i·to·ry adjective Treacherous. [ Obsolete]
Prodromal Prod"ro·mal adjective (Medicine) Of or pertaining to prodromes; as, the prodromal stage of a disease.
Prodrome Pro"drome noun [ Greek ... running before; ... before + ... to run: confer French
prodrome .]
A forerunner; a precursor.
Prodromous Prod"ro·mous adjective Precursory. [ R.]
Prodromus Prod"ro·mus noun [ New Latin ]
1. A prodrome. 2. A preliminary course or publication; -- used esp. in the titles of elementary works.
Produce Pro·duce" transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Produced ;
present participle & verbal noun Producing .] [ Latin
producere ,
productum , to bring forward, beget, produce;
pro forward, forth +
ducere to lead. See
Duke .]
1. To bring forward; to lead forth; to offer to view or notice; to exhibit; to show; as, to produce a witness or evidence in court. Produce your cause, saith the Lord.
Isa. xli. 21. Your parents did not produce you much into the world.
Swift. 2. To bring forth, as young, or as a natural product or growth; to give birth to; to bear; to generate; to propagate; to yield; to furnish; as, the earth produces grass; trees produce fruit; the clouds produce rain. This soil produces all sorts of palm trees.
Sandys. [ They] produce prodigious births of body or mind.
Milton. The greatest jurist his country had produced .
Macaulay. 3. To cause to be or to happen; to originate, as an effect or result; to bring about; as, disease produces pain; vice produces misery. 4. To give being or form to; to manufacture; to make; as, a manufacturer produces excellent wares. 5. To yield or furnish; to gain; as, money at interest produces an income; capital produces profit. 6. To draw out; to extend; to lengthen; to prolong; as, to produce a man's life to threescore. Sir T. Browne. 7. (Geom.) To extend; -- applied to a line, surface, or solid; as, to produce a side of a triangle.
Produce Pro·duce" intransitive verb To yield or furnish appropriate offspring, crops, effects, consequences, or results.
Produce Prod"uce noun That which is produced, brought forth, or yielded; product; yield; proceeds; result of labor, especially of agricultural labors ; hence, specifically,
agricultural products.
Produce race Prod"uce race (Horse Racing) A race to be run by the produce of horses named or described at the time of entry.
Producement Pro·duce"ment noun Production. [ Obsolete]
Producent Pro·du"cent noun [ Latin
producens , present participle]
One who produces, or offers to notice. [ Obsolete]
Ayliffe.
Producer Pro·du"cer noun 1. One who produces, brings forth, or generates. 2. One who grows agricultural products, or manufactures crude materials into articles of use. 3. (Iron & Steel Manuf.) A furnace for producing combustible gas which is used for fuel.
Producer's goods Pro·duc"er's goods (Polit. Econ.) Goods that satisfy wants only indirectly as factors in the production of other goods, such as tools and raw material; -- called also instrumental goods , auxiliary goods , intermediate goods , or goods of the second and higher orders , and disting. from consumers' goods .
Producer's surplus Producer's surplus (Polit. Econ.) Any profit above the normal rate of interest and wages accruing to a producer on account of some monopoly (temporary or permanent) of the means or materials of production; -- called also Producer's rent
Producibility Pro·du`ci·bil"i·ty noun The quality or state of being producible. Barrow.
Producible Pro·du"ci·ble adjective Capable of being produced, brought forward, brought forth, generated, made, or extended. --
Pro*du"ci*ble*ness ,
noun
Product Prod"uct noun [ Latin
productus , present participle of
producere . See
Produce .]
1. Anything that is produced, whether as the result of generation, growth, labor, or thought, or by the operation of involuntary causes; as, the products of the season, or of the farm; the products of manufactures; the products of the brain. There are the product
Of those ill-mated marriages.
Milton. These institutions are the products of enthusiasm.
Burke. 2. (Math.) The number or sum obtained by adding one number or quantity to itself as many times as there are units in another number; the number resulting from the multiplication of two or more numbers; as, the product of the multiplication of 7 by 5 is 35. In general, the result of any kind of multiplication. See the Note under Multiplication . Syn. -- Produce; production; fruit; result; effect; consequence; outcome; work; performance.
Product Pro·duct" transitive verb 1. To produce; to bring forward. "
Producted to . . . examination." [ Obsolete]
Foxe. 2. To lengthen out; to extend. [ Obsolete]
He that doth much . . . products his mortality.
Hackett. 3. To produce; to make. [ Obsolete]
Holinshed.
Productibility Pro·duct`i·bil"i·ty noun The state of being productible; producibility. Ruskin.
Productible Pro·duct"i·ble adjective [ Confer French
productible .]
Capable of being produced; producible.
Productile Pro·duc"tile adjective [ Latin
productilis , from
producere to stretch out.]
Capable of being extended or prolonged; extensible; ductile.
Production Pro·duc"tion noun [ Latin
productio a lengthening, prolonging: confer French
production . See
Produce . ]
1. The act or process or producing, bringing forth, or exhibiting to view; as, the production of commodities, of a witness. 2. That which is produced, yielded, or made, whether naturally, or by the application of intelligence and labor; as, the productions of the earth; the productions of handicraft; the productions of intellect or genius. 3. The act of lengthening out or prolonging. Syn. -- Product; produce; fruit; work; performance; composition.
Productive Pro·duc"tive adjective [ French
productif , Latin
productivus fit for prolongation.]
1. Having the quality or power of producing; yielding or furnishing results; as, productive soil; productive enterprises; productive labor, that which increases the number or amount of products. 2. Bringing into being; causing to exist; producing; originative; as, an age productive of great men; a spirit productive of heroic achievements. And kindle with thy own productive fire.
Dryden. This is turning nobility into a principle of virtue, and making it productive of merit.
Spectator. 3. Producing, or able to produce, in large measure; fertile; profitable. --
Pro*duc"tive*ly ,
adverb --
Pro*duc"tive*ness ,
noun
Productivity Pro`duc·tiv"i·ty noun The quality or state of being productive; productiveness. Emerson. Not indeed as the product, but as the producing power, the productivity .
Coleridge.
Productress Pro·duc"tress noun A female producer.
Productus Pro·duc"tus noun [ New Latin See
Product .]
(Paleon.) An extinct genus of brachiopods, very characteristic of the Carboniferous rocks.
Proeguminal Pro`e·gu"mi·nal adjective [ Greek ..., present participle of ... to lead the way: confer French
proégumène .]
(Medicine) Serving to predispose; predisposing; as, a proeguminal cause of disease.
Proem Pro"em noun [ Latin
prooemium , Greek ...; ... before + ... way, course or strain of a song: confer French
proème .]
Preface; introduction; preliminary observations; prelude. Thus much may serve by way of proem .
Swift.
Proem Pro"em transitive verb To preface. [ Obsolete]
South.
Proembryo Pro·em"bry·o noun [ Prefix
pro- +
embryo . ]
(Botany) (a) The series of cells formed in the ovule of a flowering plant after fertilization, but before the formation of the embryo. (b) The primary growth from the spore in certain cryptogamous plants; as, the proembryo , or protonema, of mosses.
Proemial Pro·e"mi·al adjective Introductory; prefatory; preliminary. [ R.]
Hammond.
Proemptosis Pro`emp·to"sis noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... to fall in before; ... before + ... in + ... to fall.]
(Chron.) The addition of a day to the lunar calendar. [ R.] See
Metemptosis .
Proface Pro"face interj. [ Old French
prou face ,
prou fasse ;
prou profit +
faire to make, do.]
Much good may it do you! -- a familiar salutation or welcome. [ Obsolete]
Master page, good master page, sit. Proface !
Shak.
Profanate Prof"a·nate transitive verb To profane. [ Obsolete]
Profanation Prof`a·na"tion noun [ Latin
profanatio : confer French
profanation . See
Profane ,
transitive verb ]
1. The act of violating sacred things, or of treating them with contempt or irreverence; irreverent or too familiar treatment or use of what is sacred; desecration; as, the profanation of the Sabbath; the profanation of a sanctuary; the profanation of the name of God. 2. The act of treating with abuse or disrespect, or with undue publicity, or lack of delicacy. 'T were profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Donne.
Profane Pro·fane" adjective [ French, from Latin
profanus , properly, before the temple, i. e., without the temple, unholy;
pro before +
fanum temple. See 1st
Fane .]
1. Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity; unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other than sacred; secular; -- opposed to sacred , religious , or inspired ; as, a profane place. "
Profane authors."
I. Disraeli. The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
Gibbon. 2. Unclean; impure; polluted; unholy. Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
Sir W. Raleigh. 3. Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; irreverent; impious. Hence, specifically;
Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue. 1 Tim. i. 9. Syn. -- Secular; temporal; worldly; unsanctified; unhallowed; unholy; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly; wicked; godless; impious. See
Impious .
Profane Pro·fane" transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Profaned ;
present participle & verbal noun Profaning .] [ Latin
profanare : confer French
profaner . See
Profane ,
adjective ]
1. To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God. The priests in the temple profane the sabbath.
Matt. xii. 5. 2. To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile. So idly to profane the precious time.
Shak.
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