Progressive Pro·gress"ive adjective (U. S. Politics) Of or pertaining to the Progressive party.

Progressive party Progressive party (U. S. Politics) The political party formed, chiefly out of the Republican party, by the adherents of Theodore Roosevelt in the presidential campaign of 1912. The name Progressive party was chosen at the meeting held on Aug. 7, 1912, when the candidates were nominated and the platform adopted. Among the chief articles in the platform are those demanding direct primaries, preferential primaries for presidential nominations, direct election of United States senators, women's suffrage, and recall of judicial decisions in certain cases.

Progue Progue intransitive verb To prog. [ Obsolete] P. Fletcher.

Progue Progue noun A sharp point; a goad. [ Scot. & Local, U. S.] -- transitive verb To prick; to goad. [ Scot. & Local, U. S.].

Proheme Pro"heme noun Proem. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Prohibit Pro·hib"it transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Prohibited ; present participle & verbal noun Prohibiting .] [ Latin prohibitus , past participle of prohibere to prohibit; pro before, forth + habere to have, hold. See Habit .]

1. To forbid by authority; to interdict; as, God prohibited Adam from eating of the fruit of a certain tree; we prohibit a person from doing a thing, and also the doing of the thing; as, the law prohibits men from stealing, or it prohibits stealing.

» Prohibit was formerly followed by to with the infinitive, but is now commonly followed by from with the verbal noun in -ing .

2. To hinder; to debar; to prevent; to preclude.

Gates of burning adamant,
Barred over us, prohibit all egress.

Milton.

Syn. -- To forbid; interdict; debar; prevent; hinder. -- Prohibit , Forbid . To forbid is Anglo-Saxon, and is more familiar; to prohibit is Latin, and is more formal or official. A parent forbids his child to be out late at night; he prohibits his intercourse with the profane and vicious.

Prohibiter Pro·hib"it·er noun One who prohibits or forbids; a forbidder; an interdicter.

Prohibition Pro`hi·bi"tion noun [ Latin prohibitio : confer French prohibition .]

1. The act of prohibiting; a declaration or injunction forbidding some action; interdict.

The law of God, in the ten commandments, consists mostly of prohibitions .

Tillotson.

2. Specifically, the forbidding by law of the sale of alcoholic liquors as beverages.

Writ of prohibition (Law) , a writ issued by a superior tribunal, directed to an inferior court, commanding the latter to cease from the prosecution of a suit depending before it. Blackstone.

» By ellipsis, prohibition is used for the writ itself.

Prohibitionist Pro`hi·bi"tion·ist noun

1. One who favors prohibitory duties on foreign goods in commerce; a protectionist.

2. One who favors the prohibition of the sale (or of the sale and manufacture) of alcoholic liquors as beverages.

Prohibitive Pro·hib"it·ive adjective [ Confer French prohibitif .] That prohibits; prohibitory; as, a tax whose effect is prohibitive .

Prohibitory Pro·hib"it·o·ry adjective [ Latin prohibitorius .] Tending to prohibit, forbid, or exclude; implying prohibition; forbidding; as, a prohibitory law; a prohibitory price.

Prohibitory index . (R. C. Ch.) See under Index .

Proin Proin (proin) transitive verb [ See Prune to trim.] To lop; to trim; to prune; to adorn. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

The sprigs that did about it grow
He proined from the leafy arms.

Chapman.

Proin Proin intransitive verb To employed in pruning. [ Obsolete]

Project Proj"ect noun [ Old French project , French projet , from Latin projectus , past participle of projicere to project; pro forward + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth, and confer Projet .]

1. The place from which a thing projects, or starts forth. [ Obsolete] Holland.

2. That which is projected or designed; something intended or devised; a scheme; a design; a plan.

Vented much policy, and projects deep.

Milton.

Projects of happiness devised by human reason.

Rogers.

He entered into the project with his customary ardor.

Prescott.

3. An idle scheme; an impracticable design; as, a man given to projects .

Syn. -- Design; scheme; plan; purpose. -- Project , Design . A project is something of a practical nature thrown out for consideration as to its being done. A design is a project when matured and settled, as a thing to be accomplished. An ingenious man has many projects , but, if governed by sound sense, will be slow in forming them into designs . See also Scheme .

Project Pro·ject" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Projected ; present participle & verbal noun Projecting .] [ Confer Old French projecter , French projeter .]

1. To throw or cast forward; to shoot forth.

Before his feet herself she did project .

Spenser.

Behold! th' ascending villas on my side
Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide.

Pope.

2. To cast forward or revolve in the mind; to contrive; to devise; to scheme; as, to project a plan.

What sit then projecting peace and war?

Milton.

3. (Persp.) To draw or exhibit, as the form of anything; to delineate; as, to project a sphere, a map, an ellipse, and the like; -- sometimes with on , upon , into , etc.; as, to project a line or point upon a plane. See Projection , 4.

Project Pro·ject" intransitive verb

1. To shoot forward; to extend beyond something else; to be prominent; to jut; as, the cornice projects ; branches project from the tree.

2. To form a project; to scheme. [ R.] Fuller.

Projectile Pro·ject"ile adjective [ Confer French projectile .]

1. Projecting or impelling forward; as, a projectile force.

2. Caused or imparted by impulse or projection; impelled forward; as, projectile motion. Arbuthnot.

Projectile Pro·ject"ile noun [ Confer French projectile .]

1. A body projected, or impelled forward, by force; especially, a missile adapted to be shot from a firearm.

2. plural (Mech.) A part of mechanics which treats of the motion, range, time of flight, etc., of bodies thrown or driven through the air by an impelling force.

Projection Pro·jec"tion noun [ Latin projectio : confer French projection .]

1. The act of throwing or shooting forward.

2. A jutting out; also, a part jutting out, as of a building; an extension beyond something else.

3. The act of scheming or planning; also, that which is planned; contrivance; design; plan. Davenant.

4. (Persp.) The representation of something; delineation; plan; especially, the representation of any object on a perspective plane, or such a delineation as would result were the chief points of the object thrown forward upon the plane, each in the direction of a line drawn through it from a given point of sight, or central point; as, the projection of a sphere. The several kinds of projection differ according to the assumed point of sight and plane of projection in each.

5. (Geology) Any method of representing the surface of the earth upon a plane.

Conical projection , a mode of representing the sphere, the spherical surface being projected upon the surface of a cone tangent to the sphere, the point of sight being at the center of the sphere. -- Cylindric projection , a mode of representing the sphere, the spherical surface being projected upon the surface of a cylinder touching the sphere, the point of sight being at the center of the sphere. -- Globular , Gnomonic , Orthographic , projection ,etc. See under Globular , Gnomonic , etc. -- Mercator's projection , a mode of representing the sphere in which the meridians are drawn parallel to each other, and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator, so that at all places the degrees of latitude and longitude have to each other the same ratio as on the sphere itself. -- Oblique projection , a projection made by parallel lines drawn from every point of a figure and meeting the plane of projection obliquely. -- Polar projection , a projection of the sphere in which the point of sight is at the center, and the plane of projection passes through one of the polar circles. -- Powder of projection (Alchemy.) , a certain powder cast into a crucible or other vessel containing prepared metal or other matter which is to be thereby transmuted into gold. -- Projection of a point on a plane (Descriptive Geom.) , the foot of a perpendicular to the plane drawn through the point. -- Projection of a straight line of a plane , the straight line of the plane connecting the feet of the perpendiculars let fall from the extremities of the given line.

Syn. -- See Protuberance .

Projectment Pro·ject"ment noun Design; contrivance; projection. [ Obsolete] Clarendon.

Projector Pro·ject"or noun [ Confer French projeteur .] One who projects a scheme or design; hence, one who forms fanciful or chimerical schemes. L'Estrange.

Projector Pro·jec"tor noun An optical instrument for projecting a picture upon a screen, as by a magic lantern or by an instrument for projecting (by reflection instead of transmission of light) a picture of an opaque object, as photographs, picture post-cards, insects, etc., in the colors of the object itself. In this latter form the projection is accomplished by means of a combination of lenses with a prism and a mirror or reflector. Specific instruments have been called by different names, such as radiopticon , mirrorscope , balopticon , etc.

Projecture Pro·jec"ture noun [ Latin projectura : confer French projecture .] A jutting out beyond a surface.

Projet Pro`jet" noun [ French See Project , noun ] A plan proposed; a draft of a proposed measure; a project.

Proke Proke intransitive verb To poke; to thrust. [ Obsolete] Holland.

Prolapse Pro·lapse" noun [ Latin prolapsus , from prolapsus , past participle of prolabi to fall forward; pro forward + labi to glide, fall.] (Medicine) The falling down of a part through the orifice with which it is naturally connected, especially of the uterus or the rectum. Dunglison.

Prolapse Pro·lapse" intransitive verb To fall down or out; to protrude.

Prolapsion Pro·lap"sion noun [ Latin prolapsio .] (Medicine) Prolapse. [ Written also prolaption .] [ Obsolete]

Prolapsus Pro·lap"sus noun [ Latin ] (Medicine) Prolapse.

Prolate Pro"late adjective [ Latin prolatus , used as past participle of proferre to bring forth, to extend; pro + latus , past participle See Pro- , and Tolerate . ] Stretched out; extended; especially, elongated in the direction of a line joining the poles; as, a prolate spheroid; -- opposed to oblate .

Prolate cycloid . See the Note under Cycloid . -- Prolate ellipsoid or spheroid (Geom.) , a figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its major axis. See Ellipsoid of revolution , under Ellipsoid .

Prolate Pro·late" transitive verb To utter; to pronounce. [ Obsolete] "Foun-der-ed; prolate it right." B. Jonson.

Prolation Pro·la"tion noun [ Latin prolatio : confer French prolation .]

1. The act of prolating or pronouncing; utterance; pronunciation. [ Obsolete] Ray.

2. The act of deferring; delay. [ Obsolete] Ainsworth.

3. (Mus.) A mediĉval method of determining of the proportionate duration of semibreves and minims. Busby.

Prolatum Pro·la"tum noun ; plural Prolata . [ New Latin See Prolate .] (Geom.) A prolate spheroid. See Ellipsoid of revolution , under Ellipsoid .

Proleg Pro"leg noun [ Prefix pro- for, in place of + leg .] (Zoology) One of the fleshy legs found on the abdominal segments of the larvĉ of Lepidoptera, sawflies, and some other insects. Those of Lepidoptera have a circle of hooks. Called also proped , propleg , and falseleg .

Prolegate Pro"leg`ate noun [ Latin prolegatus ; pro for + legatus legate.] (Rom. Hist.) The deputy or substitute for a legate.

Prolegomenary Prol`e·gom"e·na·ry adjective Of the nature of a prolegomenon; preliminary; introductory; prefatory.

Prolegomenon Prol`e·gom"e·non noun ; plural Prolegomena . [ New Latin , from Greek ..., properly neut. pass. present participle of ... to say beforehand; ... before + ... to say.] A preliminary remark or observation; an introductory discourse prefixed to a book or treatise. D. Stokes (1659). Sir W. Scott.

Prolepsis Pro·lep"sis noun [ Latin , from Greek ..., from ... to take beforehand; ... before + ... to take.]

1. (Rhet.) (a) A figure by which objections are anticipated or prevented. Abp. Bramhall. (b) A necessary truth or assumption; a first or assumed principle.

2. (Chron.) An error in chronology, consisting in an event being dated before the actual time.

3. (Gram.) The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation, or to denote the result, of the action of the verb; as, to strike one dumb .

Proleptic, Proleptical Pro·lep"tic, Pro·lep"tic·al adjective [ Greek ...: confer French proleptique .]

1. Of or pertaining to prolepsis; anticipative. "A far-seeing or proleptic wisdom." De Quincey.

2. Previous; antecedent. Glanvill.

3. (Medicine) Anticipating the usual time; -- applied to a periodical disease whose paroxysms return at an earlier hour at every repetition.

Proleptically Pro·lep"tic·al·ly adverb In a proleptical manner.

Proleptics Pro·lep"tics noun (Medicine) The art and science of predicting in medicine. Laycock.

Prolétaire Pro`lé`taire" noun [ French See Proletary .] One of the common people; a low person; also, the common people as a class or estate in a country.

Proletaneous Prol`e·ta"ne·ous adjective [ Latin proletaneus .] Having a numerous offspring. [ R.]

Proletarian Prol`e·ta"ri·an adjective [ Latin proletarius . See Proletary.] Of or pertaining to the proletaries; belonging to the commonalty; hence, mean; vile; vulgar. "Every citizen, if he were not a proletarian animal kept at the public cost." De Quincey. -- noun A proletary.

Proletariat Prol`e·ta"ri·at noun [ French] The indigent class in the State; the body of proletarians.

Proletariate Prol`e·ta"ri·ate noun The lower classes; beggars. "The Italian proletariate ." J. A. Symonds.

Proletary Prol"e·ta·ry noun ; plural Proletaries . [ Latin proletarius , from proles offspring. Confer Prolétaire .] (Rom. Antiq.) A citizen of the lowest class, who served the state, not with property, but only by having children; hence, a common person.

Prolicide Prol"i·cide noun [ Latin proles offspring + caedere to kill.] The crime of destroying one's offspring, either in the womb or after birth. Bouvier.

Proliferate Pro·lif"er·ate transitive verb [ Latin proles offspring + ferre to bear.]

1. (Biol.) To produce or form cells; especially, to produce cells rapidly.

2. (Zoology) To produce zooids by budding.

Proliferation Pro·lif`er·a"tion noun

1. (Biol.) The continuous development of cells in tissue formation; cell formation. Virchow.

2. (Zoology) The production of numerous zooids by budding, especially when buds arise from other buds in succession.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter P > Page 170 of 206.
« Previous ¦162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 ¦ Next »