Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Prŏc'ū-ra-cy, n. p. 1042The office or act of a proctor or procurator; vicarious management. 2. A proxy; a procuration. [Obs.] The legate assembled a synod of the clergy at London, . . . in the which he demanded procuracies.…Prŏc/ū-rāʹtion, n. p. 1042The act of procuring; procurement. 2. The management of another's affairs. 3. The instrument by which a person is empowered to transact the affairs of another. 4. A sum of money paid to the bishop or…Prŏc'ū-rā'tor, n. p. 1042(Law.) One who manages another’s affairs. See PROCTOR. Shak. 2. (Rom. Antiq.) A governor of a province under the emperors; as, the procurator of Judea; also, a certain officer who had the management…Prŏc'ū-ra-tō'ri-al, a. p. 1042Pertaining to a procurator or proctor; made by a proctor. Ayliffe.Prŏc'ū-rā'tor-ship, n. p. 1042The office of a procurator. Pearson.Pro-cū'ra-to-ry, a. p. 1042Tending to procuration.Pro-cūre', v. t. p. 1042To bring into possession; to cause to accrue to or to come into possession of; to acquire or provide for one's self or for another; to gain; to get; to obtain. “If we procure not to ourselves more…Pro-cūre', v. i. p. 1042To pimp. Dryden.Pro-cūre'ment, n. p. 1042The act of procuring, obtaining bringing about, or effecting; obtainment; management; efficient contrivance; agency. They think it done By her procurement. Dryden.Pro-cūr'er, n. p. 1042One who procures or obtains; one who, or that which, brings on or causes to be done. 2. One who procures the gratification of the passion of lewdness for another; a pimp; a pander. South.Pro-cū'ress, n. p. 1042A female procurer; a female pander.Prō'cy-ŏn, n. p. 1042(Astron.) A star of the first magnitude in the constellation Canis Minor, or the Little Dog. 2. (Zool.) The glutton. See GLUTTON.Prōd, n. p. 1042A goad; an awl, or a pin in pattens. [Prov. Eng.] 2. A light kind of cross-bow used for killing deer, particularly by ladies. Fairholt.Prŏd, v. t. p. 1042To thrust some pointed instrument into; to push into; as, to prod a haystack with a sword or bayonet. Halliwell.Prŏd'i-gal, a. p. 1042Given to extravagant expenditures; expending money or other things without necessity; recklessly profuse; lavish; wasteful; not frugal or economical; as, a prodigal man; the prodigal son. “In…Prŏd'i-gal, n. p. 1042One who expends money extravagantly or without necessity; one that is profuse or lavish; a waster; a spendthrift. “On that bleak Crimean headland noble prodigals of life.” Trench.Prŏd'i-găl'i-ty, n. p. 1042Extravagance in expenditure, particularly of money; profusion; waste; excessive liberality; — opposed to frugality, economy, and parsimony. The most severe censor can not but be pleased with the…Prŏd'i-gal-ize, v. i. p. 1042To be extravagant in expenditures. [Obs.] Sherwood.Prŏd'i-gal-ly, adv. p. 1042In a prodigal manner; with profusion of expense; extravagantly; lavishly; wastefully; profusely; as, an estate prodigally dissipated. Nature not bounteous now, but lavish grows; Our paths with…Prŏd'i-gence, n. p. 1042Waste; profusion; prodigality. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.Pro-dĭg'ious, a. p. 1042Of the nature of a prodigy; marvelous; portentous. It is prodigious to have thunder in a clear sky. Browne. 2. Very great; huge; enormous in size, quantity, extent, or the like; as, a mountain of…Pro-dĭg'ioŭs-ly, adv. p. 1042Enormously; wonderfully; astonishingly; as, a number prodigiously great. 2. Very much; extremely; as, he was prodigiously pleased. [Colloq.]Pro-dĭg'ioŭs-ness, n. p. 1042The state or quality of being prodigious; enormousness of size; the state of having qualities that excite wonder or astonishment.Prŏd'i-gy, n. p. 1042Something extraordinary from which omens are drawn; portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. So many terrors, voices, prodigies May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign.…Pro-dĭ'tion, n. p. 1042Treachery; treason. [Obs.] Ainsworth.Prŏd'i-tor, n. p. 1042A traitor. [Obs.] Shak.Prŏd'i-tō'rī-oŭs, a. p. 1042Treacherous; perfidious; traitorous. Daniel. 2. Apt to make discoveries or disclosures. “Nature is proditorious.” Walton.Prŏd'ī-to-ry, a. p. 1042Treacherous; perfidious. [Obs.]Prō'drōme, n. p. 1042A forerunner. [Obs.]Prŏd'ro-moŏus, a. p. 1042Going before; forerunning. [Obs.]Pro-dūce', v. t. p. 1042To bring forward; to lead forth; to offer to view or notice; to exhibit; as, to produce a witness or evidence in court. Your parents did not produce you much into the world. Swift. 2. To bring forth…Pro-dūce', v. i. p. 1042To yield or furnish appropriate offspring, products, effects, consequences, or results.Prŏd'ūce, n. p. 1042That which is produced, brought forth, or yielded; product; yield; proceeds; result of labor, especially of agricultural labors; hence, specifically, agricultural products.Pro-dūce'ment, n. p. 1042Production. [Obs.] Milton.Pro-dū'cent, n. p. 1042One who produces, exhibits, or offers to view or notice. [Obs.]. Ayliffe.Pro-dū'cer, n. p. 1042One who produces, brings forth, or generates.Pro·dū'çi·bil'i·ty, n. p. 1042The quality of being producible. [Obs.] Barrow.Pro-dū'ci-ble, a. p. 1042Capable of being produced, or of being brought forward, brought forth, generated, or extended. South.Pro-dū'ci·ble-ness, n. p. 1042The state or quality of being producible. Boyle.Prŏd'uct, n. p. 1042That which is produced, brought forth, effected, or generated; production; yield; result; effect; fruit, whether of growth or labor, either physical or intellectual; as, the product of land; the…Pro-dūct′, v. t. p. 1042To lengthen out; to extend; to produce. He that doth much in a short life products his mortality. Hackett.Pro-dūc'ta, n. p. 1042(Palæon.) An extinct genus of fossil bivalve shells closely allied to the living genus Terebratula, found only in the older secondary rocks. Brande.Pro·dūct'i·ble, a. p. 1042Capable of being produced; producible.Pro-dūc'tile, a. p. 1042Capable of being extended or prolonged; extensible; ductile.Pro·dūc'tion, n. p. 1042The act or process of producing, bringing forth, or exhibiting to view. 2. That which is produced or made; product; fruit of labor; as, the productions of the earth, comprehending all vegetables and…Pro-dūc'tive, a. p. 1043Having the quality or power of producing; yielding or furnishing results; as, productive labor is that which increases the number or amount of products; — opposed to unproductive labor. 2. Bringing…Pro-dūc'tive-ly, adv. p. 1043By production; with abundant produce.Pro-dŭc'tive-ness, n. p. 1043The quality of being productive; as, the productiveness of land or labor.Prō-duc-tīv'i-ty, n. p. 1043The state or quality of being productive; productiveness; capacity to produce. “Not indeed as the product, but as the producing power, the productivity.” Coleridge.Pro-dūc'tress, n. p. 1043A female who produces.Prō'e-gū'mi-nal, a. p. 1043(Med.) Serving to predispose; predisposing; as, a proeguminal cause of disease.Prō'em, n. p. 1043Preface; introduction; preliminary observations; prelude. Thus much may serve by way of proem; Proceed we therefore to our poem. Swift.Prō'em, v. t. p. 1043To preface. [Obs.] South.Pro-ē'mi-al, a. p. 1043Introductory; prefatory; preliminary. [Rare.] Hammond.Prō'emp-tō'sis, n. p. 1043(Chron.) The lunar equation, or addition of a day, necessary to prevent the new moon from being reckoned as happening a day too soon. Brande.Prō'face, interj. p. 1043Much good may it do you! — a familiar salutation or welcome. [Obs.] Master Page, good Master Page, sit. proface. Shak.Prōf'a-nāte, v. t. p. 1043To profane. [Obs.]Prōf/a-nā'tion, n. p. 1043The act of violating sacred things, or of treating them with contempt or irreverence; irreverent or too familiar treatment of what is sacred; as, the profanation of the Sabbath; the profanation of a…Pro-fāne', a. p. 1043Not sacred or holy; unconsecrated; not possessing peculiar sanctity; hence, secular; relating to matters other than sacred; as, profane history; a profane place. After the whole procession had…Pro-fāne', v. t. p. 1043To violate, as any thing sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Sabbath; to profane the Scriptures or…