Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PROD'I-GY, n. [L. prodigium, from prodigo, to shoot out, drive out, properly to spread to a great extent.]

1. Any thing out of the ordinary process of nature, and so extraordinary as to excite wonder or astonishment; as, a prodigy of learning. – Spectator.
2. Something extraordinary from which omens are drawn; portent. Thus eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies.
3. A monster; an animal or other production out of the ordinary course of nature. – B. Jonson.