Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRO-LAPSE', n. [prolaps'; L. prolapsus, prolabor.]

A falling down or falling out of some part of the body, as of the uterus or intestines. – Encyc.

PRO-LAPSE, v.i. [prolaps'.]

To fall down or out; to project too much.

PRO-LAP'SION, or PRO-LAP'SUS, n. [See PROLAPSE.]

PRO'LATE, a. [supra.]

Extended beyond the line of an exact sphere. A prolate spheroid is produced by the revolution of a semi-ellipsis about its larger diameter. – Encyc.

PRO-LATE', v.t. [L. prolatum, profero.]

To utter; to pronounce. [Not used.] – Howell.

PRO-LA'TION, n. [L. prolatio, from profero.]

1. Utterance; pronunciation. [Little used.] – Ray.
2. Delay; act of deferring. [Not used.] – Ainsworth.
3. A method in music of determining the power of semi-breves and minims. – Busby.

PRO-LE-GOM'E-NA, n. [plur. Gr. προλεγομενα; προ and λεγω, to speak.]

Preliminary observations; introductory remarks or discourses prefixed to a book or treatise. – Walton.

PRO-LE-GOM'E-NA-RY, a.

Preliminary; introductory; containing previous explanations. – Ed. Rev.

PRO'LEGS, n. [plur.]

1. [1844] In entomology, the fleshy, pediform, and frequently retractile organs, which assist various larvæ in their movements.
2. [1841] In entomology, forelegs.

PRO-LEP'SIS, or PRO-LEP'SY, n. [Gr. προληψις, from προλαμβανω; προ and λαμβανω, to take.]

1. Anticipation; a figure in rhetoric by which objections are anticipated or prevented. – Bramhall.
2. An error in chronology, when an event is dated before the actual time; an anachronism. – Theobald.

PRO-LEP'TIC, or PRO-LEP'TIC-AL, a.

1. Pertaining to prolepsis or anticipation.
2. Previous; antecedent. – Glanville.
3. In medicine, anticipating the usual time; applied to a periodical disease, whose paroxysm returns at an earlier hour at every repetition. – Encyc.

PRO-LEP'TIC-AL-LY, adv.

By way of anticipation.

PRO-LE-TA'NE-OUS, a.

Having a numerous offspring.

PRO-LE-TA'RI-AN, a. [L. proletarius, from proles, offspring.]

Mean; vile; vulgar. [Not used.] – Hudibras.

PRO'LE-TA-RY, n.

A common person. [Not used.] – Burton.

PRO-LIF'ER-OUS, a. [infra.]

In botany, a proliferous flower is a flower which produces another flower within itself. A proliferous umbel is one which produces another umbel from its own center.

PRO-LIF'IC, or PRO-LIF'IC-AL, a. [It. and Sp. prolifico; Fr. prolifique; L. proles, offspring, and facio, to make.]

1. Producing young or fruit; fruitful; generative; productive; applied to animals and plants; as, a prolific female; a prolific tree.
2. Productive; having the quality of generating; as, a controversy prolific of evil consequences; a prolific brain.
3. A prolific flower, [prolifer,] in botany, is one which produces a second flower from its own center, or which has smaller flowers growing out of the principal one. But proliferous is commonly used. – Encyc. Martyn.

PRO-LIF'IC-A-CY, n.

Fruitfulness; great productiveness. – Encyc.

PRO-LIF'IC-AL-LY, adv.

Fruitfully; with great increase.

PRO-LIF-I-CA'TION, n. [See Prolific.]

1. The generation of young or of plants.
2. In botany, the production of a second flower from the substance of the first. This is either from the center of a simple flower, or from the side of an aggregate flower. – Lee.

PRO-LIF'IC-NESS, n.

The state of being prolific. – Scott.

PRO-LIX', a. [L. prolixus; pro and laxus, literally drawn out.]

1. Long; extending to a great length; minute in narration or argument; applied only to discourses, speeches, and writings; as, a prolix oration; a prolix poem; a prolix sermon.
2. Of long duration. [Not in use.]

PRO-LIX'I-TY, or PRO-LIX'NESS, n.

Great length; minute detail; applied only to discourses and writings. Prolixity is not always tedious.

PRO-LIX'LY, adv.

At great length. – Dryden.

PRO-LOC'U-TOR, n. [L. proloquor; pro and loquor, to speak.]

The speaker or chairman of a convocation. – Swift.