Prostrate
(Pros"trate) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prostrated ; p. pr. & vb. n. Prostrating.]
1. To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants. Evelyn.
2. to overthrow; to demolish; to destroy; to deprive of efficiency; to ruin; as, to prostrate a village; to prostrate
a government; to prostrate law or justice.
3. To throw down, or cause to fall in humility or adoration; to cause to bow in humble reverence; used
reflexively; as, he prostrated himself. Milman.
4. To cause to sink totally; to deprive of strength; to reduce; as, a person prostrated by fever.
Prostration
(Pros*tra"tion) n. [L. prostratio: cf. F. prostration.]
1. The act of prostrating, throwing down, or laying fiat; as, the prostration of the body.
2. The act of falling down, or of bowing in humility or adoration; primarily, the act of falling on the face,
but usually applied to kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship.
A greater prostration of reason than of body.
Shak. 3. The condition of being prostrate; great depression; lowness; dejection; as, a postration of spirits. "A
sudden prostration of strength." Arbuthnot.
4. (Med.) A latent, not an exhausted, state of the vital energies; great oppression of natural strength
and vigor.
Prostration, in its medical use, is analogous to the state of a spring lying under such a weight that it is
incapable of action; while exhaustion is analogous to the state of a spring deprived of its elastic powers.
The word, however, is often used to denote any great depression of the vital powers.
Prostyle
(Pro"style) a. [L. prostylus, Gr. before + pillar, column: cf. F. prostyle.] (Arch.) Having columns
in front. — n. A prostyle portico or building.
Prosy
(Pros"y) a. [Compar. Prosier ; superl. Prosiest.]
1. Of or pertaining to prose; like prose.
2. Dull and tedious in discourse or writing; prosaic.
Prosylogism
(Pro*sy"lo*gism) n. [Pref. pro- + syllogism.] (Logic) A syllogism preliminary or logically
essential to another syllogism; the conclusion of such a syllogism, which becomes a premise of the following
syllogism.
Protactic
(Pro*tac"tic) a. [Gr. placing or placed before, fr. to place in front; before + to arrange.] Giving
a previous narrative or explanation, as of the plot or personages of a play; introductory.
Protagon
(Pro"ta*gon) n. [Proto- + Gr. a contest. See. Protagonist. So called because it was the first
definitely ascertained principle of the brain.] (Physiol. Chem.) A nitrogenous phosphorized principle
found in brain tissue. By decomposition it yields neurine, fatty acids, and other bodies.
Protagonist
(Pro*tag"o*nist) n. [Gr. prw^tos first + an actor, combatant, fr. a contest.] One who takes
the leading part in a drama; hence, one who takes lead in some great scene, enterprise, conflict, or the
like.
Shakespeare, the protagonist on the great of modern poetry.
De Quincey.
