Productivity to Profligate
Productivity
(Pro`duc*tiv"i*ty) n. The quality or state of being productive; productiveness. Emerson.
Not indeed as the product, but as the producing power, the productivity.
Coleridge. Productress
(Pro*duc"tress) n. A female producer.
Productus
(||Pro*duc"tus) n. [NL. See Product.] (Paleon.) An extinct genus of brachiopods, very characteristic
of the Carboniferous rocks.
Proeguminal
(Pro`e*gu"mi*nal) a. [Gr. p. pr. of to lead the way: cf. F. proégumène.] (Med.) Serving to
predispose; predisposing; as, a proeguminal cause of disease.
Proem
(Pro"em) n. [L. prooemium, Gr. before + way, course or strain of a song: cf. F. proème.] Preface; introduction; preliminary
observations; prelude.
Thus much may serve by way of proem.
Swift. Proem
(Pro"em), v. t. To preface. [Obs.] South.
Proembryo
(Pro*em"bry*o) n. [Pref. pro- + embryo. ] (Bot.) (a) The series of cells formed in the
ovule of a flowering plant after fertilization, but before the formation of the embryo. (b) The primary
growth from the spore in certain cryptogamous plants; as, the proembryo, or protonema, of mosses.
Proemial
(Pro*e"mi*al) a. Introductory; prefatory; preliminary. [R.] Hammond.
Proemptosis
(Pro`emp*to"sis) n. [NL., from Gr. to fall in before; before + in + to fall.] (Chron.) The
addition of a day to the lunar calendar. [R.] See Metemptosis.
Proface
(Pro"face) interj. [OF. prou face, prou fasse; prou profit + faire to make, do.] Much good
may it do you! — a familiar salutation or welcome. [Obs.]
Master page, good master page, sit. Proface!
Shak. Profanate
(Prof"a*nate) v. t. To profane. [Obs.]
Profanation
(Prof`a*na"tion) n. [L. profanatio: cf. F. profanation. See Profane, v. t.]
1. The act of violating sacred things, or of treating them with contempt or irreverence; irreverent or too
familiar treatment or use of what is sacred; desecration; as, the profanation of the Sabbath; the profanation
of a sanctuary; the profanation of the name of God.
2. The act of treating with abuse or disrespect, or with undue publicity, or lack of delicacy.
'T were profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Donne. Profane
(Pro*fane") a. [F., fr. L. profanus, properly, before the temple, i. e., without the temple, unholy;
pro before + fanum temple. See 1st Fane.]
1. Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity; unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other
than sacred; secular; — opposed to sacred, religious, or inspired; as, a profane place. "Profane authors."
I. Disraeli.
The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
Gibbon. 2. Unclean; impure; polluted; unholy.
Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
Sir W. Raleigh.
