Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PROUD'EST, a. [superl.]

Most proud.

PROUD'LI-EST, adv.

In a most proudly manner. – Baxter.

PROUD'LY, adv.

With an inordinate self-esteem; in a proud manner; haughtily; ostentatiously; with lofty airs or mien. Proudly he marches on and void of fear. – Pope.

PROV-A-BLE, a. [See Prove.]

That may be proved.

PROV-A-BLY, adv.

In a manner capable of proof. – Huloet.

PRO'VAND, n.

Provender. [Not in use.]

PROVE, v.i.

1. To make trial; to essay. The sons prepare … / To prove by arms whose fate it was to reign. – Dryden.
2. To be found or to have its qualities ascertained by experience or trial; as, a plant or medicine proves salutary.
3. To be ascertained by the event or something subsequent; as, the report proves to be true, or proves to be false. When the inflammation ends in a gangrene, the case proves mortal. – Arbuthnot.
4. To be found true or correct by the result.
5. To make certain; to show; to evince. This argument proves how erroneous is the common opinion.
6. To succeed. If the experiment proved not. [Not in use.] – Bacon.

PROVE, v.t. [pröv; Sax. profian; D. proeven; G. probiren; Dan. pröver; Sw. profva; W. provi; Arm. proui, prouein; L. probo; It. provare; Sp. probar, to try; Fr. eprouver; Russ. probuyu, to prove; probevayu, to pierce, to penetrate, to send by force. The primary sense is to strain, to urge by force, or rather to thrust or drive. The word brow may be of the same family from its projection. See Probe.]

1. To try; to ascertain some unknown quality or truth by an experiment, or by a test or standard. Thus we prove the strength of gunpowder by experiment; we prove the strength or solidity of cannon by experiment. We prove the contents of a vessel by comparing it with a standard measure.
2. To evince, establish or ascertain as truth, reality or fact, by testimony or other evidence. The plaintif in a suit, must prove the truth of his declaration; the prosecutor must prove his charges against the accused.
3. To evince truth by argument, induction or reasoning; to deduce certain conclusions from propositions that are true or admitted. If it is admitted that every immoral act is dishonorable to a rational being, and that dueling is an immoral act; then it is proved by necessary inference, that dueling is dishonorable to a rational being.
4. To ascertain the genuineness or validity of; to verify; as, to prove a will.
5. To experience; to try by suffering or encountering; to gain certain knowledge by the operation of something on ourselves, or by some act of our own. Let him in arms the power of Turnus prove. – Dryden.
6. In arithmetic, to show, evince or ascertain the correctness of any operation or result. Thus in subtraction, if the difference between two numbers, added to the lesser number, makes a sum equal to the greater, the correctness of the subtraction is proved. In other words, if the sum of the remainder and of the subtrahend, is equal to the minuend, the operation of subtraction is proved to be correct.
7. To try; to examine. Prove your own selves. – 2 Cor. xiii.
8. Men prove God, when by their provocations they put his patience to trial, Ps. xcv.; or when by obedience they make trial how much he will countenance such conduct. – Mal. iii.

PROV-ED, pp.

Tried; evinced; experienced.

PRO-VED'I-TOR, or PROV-E-DORE, n. [It. proveditore, from provedere, to provide. See Provide.]

A purveyor; one employed to procure supplies for an army. Proveditor, in Venice and other parts of Italy, is an officer who superintends matters of policy. – Encyc.

PROV-EN, v.

A word used by Scottish writers for proved.

PRO-VEN'CIAL, a. [Fr. provençal.]

Pertaining to Provence, in France.

PROV'EN-DER, n. [Fr. provende, provender; Norm. provender, a prebendary; provendre, a prebend; D. prove, a prebend; (qu. G. D. and Sw. proviant, provisions:) It. provianda, victuals; Ir. proantain, provender. The Italian provianda is probably composed of pro and vivanda, victuals, from vivere, L. vivo, to live, and from vivanda the French have viande, Eng. viand. Whether the French provende and Norm. provender are from the same source, may be doubted. The German proviant may be formed from the L. provideo, Sp. proveer, Port. provêr. Qu. L. proventus. It is said that provend, provender, originally signified a vessel containing a measure of corn daily given to a horse or other beast. But qu. N may be casual in provender, as in messenger, and the word may be from provideo.]

1. Dry food for beasts, usually meal, or a mixture of meal and cut straw or hay. In a more general sense, it may signify dry food of any kind. – Swift. Mortimer.
2. Provisions; meat; food. – Coxe. [Not used of food for man in New England.]

PRO'VENT, n. [L. proventus.]

Provisions; eatables.

PROV-ER, n.

One that proves or tries; that which proves.

PROV'ERB, n. [Fr. proverbe; It. proverbio; L. proverbium; pro and verbum, a word.]

1. A short sentence often repeated, expressing a well known truth or common fact, ascertained by experience or observation; a maxim of wisdom. The proverb is true, that light gains make heavy purses, for light gains come often, great gains now and then. – Bacon.
2. A by-word; a name often repeated; and hence frequently, a reproach or object of contempt. – Jer. xxiv.
3. In Scripture, it sometimes signifies a moral sentence or maxim that is enigmatical; a dark saying of the wise that requires interpretation. – Prov. i.
4. Proverbs, a canonical book of the Old Testament, containing a great variety of wise maxims, rich in practical truths and excellent rules for the conduct of all classes of men.

PROV'ERB, v.t.

1. To mention in a proverb. [Not in use.] – Milton.
2. To provide with a proverb. [Not in use.] Shak.

PRO-VERB'I-AL, a.

1. Mentioned in a proverb; as, a proverbial cure or remedy. In case of excesses, I take the German proverbial cure, by a hair of the same beast, to be the worst in the world. – Temple.
2. Comprised in a proverb; used or current as a proverb; as, a proverbial saying or speech. – Pope.
3. Pertaining to proverbs; resembling a proverb; suitable to a proverb; as, a proverbial obscurity. – Brown.

PRO-VERB'I-AL-ISM, n.

A proverbial phrase. – N. A. Rev.

PRO-VERB'I-AL-IST, n.

One who speaks proverbs. – Langhorne.

PRO-VERB'I-AL-IZE, v.t.

To make a proverb; to turn into a proverb, or to use proverbially. [Unusual.] – Good.

PRO-VERB'IAL-LY, adv.

In a proverb; as, it is proverbially said. – Brown.

PRO-VIDE, v.i.

To procure supplies or means of defense, or to take measures for counteracting or escaping an evil. The sagacity of brutes in providing against the inclemencies of the weather is wonderful. Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. – Burke.

PRO-VIDE, v.t. [L. provideo, literally to see before; pro and video, to see; Fr. pourvoir; It. provvedere; Sp. proveer; Port. provêr.]

1. To procure beforehand; to get, collect or make ready for future use; to prepare. Abraham said, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering. – Gen. xxii. Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses. – Matth. x. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. – Rom. xii.
2. To furnish; to supply; followed by with. Rome, by the care of the magistrates, was well provided with corn. – Arbuthnot. Provided of is now obsolete.
3. To stipulate previously. The agreement provides that the party shall incur no loss.
4. To make a previous conditional stipulation. [See Provided.]
5. To foresee; a Latinism. [Not in use.] – B. Jonson.
6. Provide, in a transitive sense, is followed by against or for. We provide warm clothing against the inclemencies of the weather; we provide necessaries against a time of need; or we provide warm clothing for winter, &c.

PRO-VID-ED, pp.

1. Procured beforehand; made ready for future use; supplied; furnished; stipulated.
2. Stipulated as a condition, which condition is expressed in the following sentence or words; as, “provided that nothing in this act shall prejudice the rights of any person whatever.” This sentence is in the nature of the case absolute, the clause or sentence independent; “this or that being provided, which follows;” “this condition being provided.” The word being is understood, and the participle provided agrees with the whole sentence absolute. “This condition being previously stipulated or established.” This and that here refer to the whole member of the sentence.