Part 580

Pro*lapse", v. i. To fall down or out; to protrude.

Pro*lap"sion (?), n. [L. prolapsio.] (Med.) Prolapse. [ Written also prolaption.] [Obs.]

Pro*lap"sus (?), n. [L.] (Med.) Prolapse.

Pro"late (?), a. [L. prolatus, used as p. p. of proferre to bring forth, to extend; pro + latus, p. p. See Pro-, and Tolerate. ] Stretched out; extended; especially, elongated in the direction of a line joining the poles; as, a prolate spheroid; -- opposed to oblate.

Prolate cycloid. See the Note under Cycloid. -- Prolate ellipsoid or spheroid (Geom.), a figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its major axis. See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.

Pro*late" (?), v. t. To utter; to pronounce. [Obs.] "Foun-der-ed; prolate it right." B. Jonson.

Pro*la"tion (?), n. [L. prolatio: cf. F. prolation.]

1. The act of prolating or pronouncing; utterance; pronunciation. [Obs.] Ray.

2. The act of deferring; delay. [Obs.] Ainsworth.

3. (Mus.) A mediÊval method of determining of the proportionate duration of semibreves and minims. Busby.

||Pro*la"tum (?), n.; pl. Prolata (#). [ NL. See Prolate.] (Geom.) A ||prolate spheroid. See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.

Pro"leg (?), n. [Pref. pro- for, in place of + leg.] (Zoˆl.) One of the fleshy legs found on the abdominal segments of the larvÊ of Lepidoptera, sawflies, and some other insects. Those of Lepidoptera have a circle of hooks. Called also proped, propleg, and falseleg.

Pro"leg`ate (?; 48), n. [L. prolegatus; pro for + legatus legate.] (Rom. Hist.) The deputy or substitute for a legate.

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Prol`e*gom"e*na*ry (?), a. Of the nature of a prolegomenon; preliminary; introductory; prefatory.

||Prol`e*gom"e*non (?), n.; pl. Prolegomena (#). [ NL., fr. Gr. &?;, ||properly neut. pass. p. pr. of &?; to say beforehand; &?; before + ||&?; to say.] A preliminary remark or observation; an introductory ||discourse prefixed to a book or treatise. D. Stokes (1659). Sir W. ||Scott.

||Pro*lep"sis (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;, from &?; to take beforehand; ||&?; before + &?; to take.]

1. (Rhet.) (a) A figure by which objections are anticipated or prevented. Abp. Bramhall. (b) A necessary truth or assumption; a first or assumed principle.

2. (Chron.) An error in chronology, consisting in an event being dated before the actual time.

3. (Gram.) The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation, or to denote the result, of the action of the verb; as, to strike one dumb.

{ Pro*lep"tic (?), Pro*lep"tic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;: cf. F. proleptique.]

1. Of or pertaining to prolepsis; anticipative. "A far-seeing or proleptic wisdom." De Quincey.

2. Previous; antecedent. Glanvill.

3. (Med.) Anticipating the usual time; -- applied to a periodical disease whose paroxysms return at an earlier hour at every repetition.

Pro*lep"tic*al*ly, adv. In a proleptical manner.

Pro*lep"tics (?), n. (Med.) The art and science of predicting in medicine. Laycock.

||Pro`lÈ`taire" (?), n. [F. See Proletary.] One of the common people; a ||low person; also, the common people as a class or estate in a ||country.

Prol`e*ta"ne*ous (?), a. [L. proletaneus.] Having a numerous offspring. [R.]