Prothalamion, Prothalamium noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... before + ... chamber, especially, the bridal chamber.] A song in celebration of a marriage. Drayton.

Prothallium noun ; plural Prothallia . [ New Latin ] (Botany) Same as Prothallus .

Prothallus noun ; plural Prothalli . [ New Latin , from Greek ... before + ... a young shoot.] (Botany) The minute primary growth from the spore of ferns and other Pteridophyta , which bears the true sexual organs; the oöphoric generation of ferns, etc.

Prothesis noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... a placing in public, from ... to set before; ... before + ... to set, put.]
1. (Eccl.) A credence table; -- so called by the Eastern or Greek Church.

2. (Medicine) See Prosthesis . Dunglison.

Prothetic adjective [ Greek ....] Of or pertaining to prothesis; as, a prothetic apparatus.

Prothonotary, Protonotary noun ; pl> -ries . [ Late Latin protonotarius , from Greek prw^tos first + Latin notarius a shorthand writer, a scribe: confer French protonotaire .]
1. A chief notary or clerk. " My private prothonotary ." Herrick.

2. Formerly, a chief clerk in the Court of King's Bench and in the Court of Common Pleas, now superseded by the master . [ Eng.] Wharton. Burrill.

3. A register or chief clerk of a court in certain States of the United States.

4. (R. C. Ch.) Formerly, one who had the charge of writing the acts of the martyrs, and the circumstances of their death; now, one of twelve persons, constituting a college in the Roman Curia, whose office is to register pontifical acts and to make and preserve the official record of beatifications.

5. (Gr. Ch.) The chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantinople.

Prothonotary warbler (Zoology) , a small American warbler ( Protonotaria citrea ). The general color is golden yellow, the back is olivaceous, the rump and tail are ash- color, several outer tail feathers are partly white.

Prothonotaryship noun Office of a prothonotary.

Prothoracic adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the prothorax.

Prothorax noun [ Prefix pro- + thorax .] (Zoology) The first or anterior segment of the thorax in insects. See Illusts . of Butterfly and Coleoptera .

Prothyalosome noun (Biol.) Same as Prothyalosoma .

Protist noun (Zoology) One of the Protista.

Protista noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek prw`tistos first.] (Zoology) A provisional group in which are placed a number of low microscopic organisms of doubtful nature. Some are probably plants, others animals.

Protiston noun ; plural Protista . [ New Latin ] (Zoology) One of the Protista.

Proto- [ Greek prw^tos first, a superl. from pro` before. See Pro- .]
1. A combining form prefix signifying first , primary , primordial ; as, proto martyr, the first martyr; proto morphic, primitive in form; proto plast, a primordial organism; proto type, proto zoan.

2. (Chemistry) (a) Denoting the first or lowest of a series , or the one having the smallest amount of the element to the name of which it is prefixed; as prot oxide, proto chloride, etc. (b) Sometimes used as equivalent to mono- , as indicating that the compound has but one atom of the element to the name of which it is prefixed. Also used adjectively.

Proto-Doric adjective [ Proto- + Doric .] (Architecture) Pertaining to, or designating, architecture, in which the beginnings of the Doric style are supposed to be found.

Protocanonical adjective Of or pertaining to the first canon, or that which contains the authorized collection of the books of Scripture; -- opposed to deutero- canonical .

Protocatechuic adjective (Chemistry) Pertaining to, derived from, or designating, an organic acid which is obtained as a white crystalline substance from catechin, asafetida, oil of cloves, etc., and by distillation itself yields pyrocatechin.

Protocercal adjective [ Proto- + Greek ... the tail.] (Zoology) Having a caudal fin extending around the end of the vertebral column, like that which is first formed in the embryo of fishes; diphycercal.

Protococcus noun [ New Latin See Proto- , and Coccus .] (Botany) A genus of minute unicellular algæ including the red snow plant ( Protococcus nivalis ).

Protocol noun [ French protocole , Late Latin protocollum , from Greek ... the first leaf glued to the rolls of papyrus and the notarial documents, on which the date was written; prw^tos the first (see Proto- ) + ... glue.]
1. The original copy of any writing, as of a deed, treaty, dispatch, or other instrument. Burrill.

2. The minutes, or rough draught, of an instrument or transaction.

3. (Diplomacy) (a) A preliminary document upon the basis of which negotiations are carried on. (b) A convention not formally ratified. (c) An agreement of diplomatists indicating the results reached by them at a particular stage of a negotiation.

Protocol transitive verb To make a protocol of.

Protocol intransitive verb To make or write protocols, or first draughts; to issue protocols. Carlyle.

Protocolist noun One who draughts protocols.

Protoconch noun [ Proto- + conch .] (Zoology) The embryonic shell, or first chamber, of ammonites and other cephalopods.

Protogine noun [ Proto- + root of Greek ... to be born: confer French protogyne .] (Min.) A kind of granite or gneiss containing a silvery talcose mineral.

Protogynous adjective [ Proto + Greek gynh` a woman.] (Botany) Same as Proterogynous .

Protohippus noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... first + ... horse.] (Paleon.) A genus of fossil horses from the Lower Pliocene. They had three toes on each foot, the lateral ones being small.

Protomartyr noun [ Late Latin , from Greek ...; ... first + ... martyr: confer French protomartyr . See Proto- , and Martyr .] The first martyr; the first who suffers, or is sacrificed, in any cause; -- applied esp. to Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

Protomerite noun [ Proto- + -mere + -ite .] (Zoology) The second segment of one of the Gregarinæ.

Protometals noun plural A finer form of metals, indicated by enhanced lines in their spark spectra (which are also observed in the spectra of some stars), obtained at the highest available laboratory temperatures ( Lockyer ); as protocalcium, protochromium, protocopper, protonickel, protosilicon, protostrontium, prototitanium, protovanadium. -- Pro`to*me*tal"ic adjective

Protomorphic adjective [ Proto- + Greek ... form.] (Biol.) Having the most primitive character; in the earliest form; as, a protomorphic layer of tissue. H. Spencer.

Protonema noun ; plural Protonemata . [ New Latin , from Greek ... first + ..., ..., a thread.] (Botany) The primary growth from the spore of a moss, usually consisting of branching confervoid filaments, on any part of which stem and leaf buds may be developed.

Protonotary noun Same as Prothonotary .

Protopapas noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... a chief priest.] (Gr. Ch.) A protopope.

Protophyte noun [ Proto- + Greek ... a plant.] (Botany) Any unicellular plant, or plant forming only a plasmodium, having reproduction only by fission, gemmation, or cell division.

» The protophytes ( Protophyta ) are by some botanists considered an independent branch or class of the vegetable kingdom, and made to include the lowest forms of both fungi and algæ, as slime molds, Bacteria, the nostocs, etc. Confer Carpophyte , and Oöphyte .

Protophytology noun [ Proto- + phytology .] Paleobotany.

Protopine noun [ Proto- + opium .] (Chemistry) An alkaloid found in opium in small quantities, and extracted as a white crystalline substance.

Protoplasm noun [ Proto- + Greek ... form, from ... to mold.] (Biol.) The viscid and more or less granular material of vegetable and animal cells, possessed of vital properties by which the processes of nutrition, secretion, and growth go forward; the so-called " physical basis of life;" the original cell substance, cytoplasm, cytoblastema, bioplasm sarcode, etc.

» The lowest forms of animal and vegetable life (unicellular organisms) consist of simple or unaltered protoplasm ; the tissues of the higher organisms, of differentiated protoplasm .

Protoplasmatic adjective Protoplasmic.

Protoplasmic adjective
1. Of or pertaining to the first formation of living bodies.

2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to protoplasm; consisting of, or resembling, protoplasm.

Protoplast noun [ Latin protoplastus the first man, Greek ... formed or created first; ... first + ... formed, from ... to form.]

1. The thing first formed; that of which there are subsequent copies or reproductions; the original.

2. (Biol.) A first-formed organized body; the first individual, or pair of individuals, of a species.

A species is a class of individuals, each of which is hypothetically considered to be the descendant of the same protoplast , or of the same pair of protoplasts .

Latham.

Protoplasta noun plural [ New Latin ] (Zoology) A division of fresh-water rhizopods including those that have a soft body and delicate branched pseudopodia. The genus Gromia is one of the best-known.

Protoplastic adjective First- formed. Howell.

Protopodite noun [ Proto- + Greek ..., ..., foot.] (Zoology) The basal portion, or two proximal and more or less consolidated segments, of an appendage of a crustacean.

Protopope noun [ Proto- + pope : confer French protopope , Russian protopop' .] (Gr. Ch.) One of the clergy of first rank in the lower order of secular clergy; an archpriest; -- called also protopapas .

Protopterus noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... first + ... a feather (taken to mean, fin).] (Zoology) See Komtok .

Protosalt noun [ Proto- + salt .] (Chemistry) A salt derived from a protoxide base. [ Obsolete]

Protosilicate noun [ Proto- + silicate .] (Chemistry) A silicate formed with the lowest proportion of silicic acid, or having but one atom of silicon in the molecule.

Protosomite noun [ Proto- + somite .] (Zoology) One of the primitive segments, or metameres, of an animal.

Protoörganism noun [ Proto- + organism .] (Biol.) An organism whose nature is so difficult to determine that it might be referred to either the animal or the vegetable kingdom.