Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRORE, n. [L. prora.]

The prow or fore part of a ship. Pope. [Not in use, except in poetry.]

PRO-RE-NATA, adv. [Pro re nata; L.]

According to exigences or circumstances.

PRO-RO-GA'TION, n. [L. prorogatio. See Prorogue.]

1. Continuance in time or duration; a lengthening or prolongation of time; as the prorogation of something already possessed. [This use is uncommon.] – South.
2. In England, the continuance of parliament from one session to another, as an adjournment is a continuance of the session from day to day. This is the established language with respect to the parliament of Great Britain. In the United States, the word is, I believe, rarely or never used; adjournment being used not only in its etymological sense, but for prorogation also.

PRO-ROGUE, v.t. [prorōg; Fr. proroger; L. prorogo; pro and rogo. The latter word signifies to ask, or to propose; but the primary sense is to reach, to stretch forward; and this is its import in the derivative prorogo.]

1. To protract; to prolong. He prorogued his government. – Dryden.
2. To defer; to delay; as, to prorogue death. – Shak. [In the foregoing senses, the word is now rarely used.]
3. To continue the parliament from one session to another. Parliament is prorogued by the king's authority, either by the lord chancellor in his majesty's presence, or by commission, or by proclamation. – Blackstone.

PRO-ROGU-ED, pp.

Prolonged; continued from one session to another.

PRO-RUP'TION, n. [L. proruptus, prorumpo; pro and rumpo to burst.]

The act of bursting forth; a bursting out. – Brown.

PRO-SA'IC, a. [s as z. L. prosaicus, from prosa, prose; Fr. prosaique.]

1. Pertaining to prose; resembling prose; not restricted by numbers; applied to writings; as, a prosaic composition.
2. Dull; uninteresting.

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

In a dull or prosaic manner.

PRO'SA-ISM, n.

That which is in the former prose writing. – Coleridge.

PRO'SA-IST, n.

A writer of prose.

PRO'SAL, a.

Prosaic. [Not used.] – Brown.

PRO-SCE'NI-UM, n. [Gr. προ and σκηνη.]

The front part of the stage in a theater, before the orchestra. – Elmes.

PRO-SCRIBE, v.t. [L. proscribο; pro and scribo, to write. The sense of this word originated in the Roman practice of writing the names of persons doomed to death, and posting the list in public.]

1. To doom to destruction; to put one out of the protection of law, and promise a reward for his head. Sylla and Marius proscribed each other's adherents.
2. To put out of the protection of the law. Robert Vere, Earl of Oxford, was banished the realm and proscribed. – Spenser.
3. To denounce and condemn as dangerous and not worthy of reception; to reject utterly. In the year 325, the Arian doctrines were proscribed and anathematized by the council of Nice. – Waterland.
4. To censure and condemn as utterly unworthy of reception. – South.
5. To interdict; as, to proscribe the use of ardent spirits.

PRO-SCRIB-ED, pp.

Doomed to destruction; denounced as dangerous, or as unworthy of reception; condemned; banished.

PRO-SCRIB-ER, n.

One that dooms to destruction; one that denounces as dangerous, or as utterly unworthy of reception.

PRO-SCRIB-ING, ppr.

Dooming to destruction; denouncing as unworthy of protection or reception; condemning; banishing.

PRO-SCRIP'TION, n. [L. proscriptio.]

1. The act of proscribing or dooming to death; among the Romans, the public offer of a reward for the head of a political enemy. Such were the proscriptions of Sylla and Marius. Under the triumvirate, many of the best Roman citizens fell by proscription.
2. A putting out of the protection of law; condemning to exile.
3. Censure and condemnation; utter rejection.

PRO-SCRIP'TIVE, a.

Pertaining to or consisting in proscription; proscribing. – Burke.

PROSE, n. [s as z. L. It. and Sp. prosa; Fr. prose. Qu. orient. פרס, פרץ or פרש.]

1. The natural language of man; language loose and unconfined to poetical measure, as opposed to verse or metrical composition. Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. – Milton.
2. A prayer used in the Romish church on particular days. – Harmar.

PROSE, v.t.

1. To write in prose. – Milton.
2. To make a tedious relation. – Mason.

PROS'E-CUTE, v.t. [L. prosecutus, prosequor; pro and sequor, to follow, Eng. to seek. See Essay.]

1. To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute or accomplish; to continue endeavors to obtain or complete; to continue efforts already begun; as, to prosecute a scheme; to prosecute an undertaking. The plan of a great canal in the state of New York has been prosecuted with success. That which is morally good is to be desired and prosecuted. – Wilkins. This word signifies either to begin and carry on, or simply to continue what has been begun. When I say, “I have devised a plan which I have not the courage or means to prosecute,” the word signifies to begin to execute. When we say, “the nation began a war which it had not means to prosecute,” it signifies to continue to carry on. The latter is the genuine sense of the word, but both are well authorized. We prosecute any work of the hands or of the head. We prosecute a purpose, an enterprise, a work, studies, inquiries, &c.
2. To seek to obtain by legal process; as, to prosecute a right in a court of law.
3. To accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; as, to prosecute a man for trespass or for a riot. It is applied to civil suits for damages, as well as to criminal suits, but not to suits for debt. We never say, a man prosecutes another on a bond or note, or in assumpsit; but he prosecutes his right or claim in an action of debt, detinue, trover or assumpsit. So we say, a man prosecutes another for assault and battery, for a libel or for slander, or for breaking his close. In these cases, prosecute signifies to begin, and to continue a suit. The attorney-general prosecutes offenders in the name of the king or of the state, by information or indictment. Prosecute differs from persecute, as in law it is applied to the legal proceedings only, whereas persecute implies cruelty, injustice or oppression.

PROS'E-CU-TED, pp.

Pursued, or begun and carried on for execution or accomplishment, as a scheme; pursued for redress or punishment in a court of law, as a person; demanded in law, as a right or claim.

PROS'E-CU-TING, ppr.

Pursuing, or beginning and carrying on for accomplishment; pursuing for redress or punishment; suing for, as a right or claim.

PROS-E-CU'TION, n.

1. The act or process of endeavoring to gain or accomplish something; pursuit by efforts of body or mind; as, the prosecution of a scheme, plan, design or undertaking; the prosecution of war or of commerce, the prosecution of a work, study, argument or inquiry.
2. The institution and carrying on of a suit in a court of law or equity, to obtain some right, or to redress and punish some wrong. The prosecution of a claim in chancery is very expensive. Malicious prosecutions subject the offender to punishment.
3. The institution or commencement and continuance of a criminal suit; the process of exhibiting formal charges against an offender before a legal tribunal, and pursuing them to final judgment; as, prosecutions of the crown or of the state by the attorney or solicitor-general. Prosecutions may be by presentment, information or indictment. – Blackstone.

PROS'E-CU-TOR, n.

1. One who pursues or carries on any purpose, plan or business.
2. The person who institutes and carries on a criminal suit in a legal tribunal, or one who exhibits criminal charges against an offender. The attorney-general is the prosecutor for the king or state. – Blackstone.