Part 581

Prol`e*ta"ri*an (?), a. [L. proletarius. See Proletary.] Of or pertaining to the proletaries; belonging to the commonalty; hence, mean; vile; vulgar. "Every citizen, if he were not a proletarian animal kept at the public cost." De Quincey. -- n. A proletary.

Prol`e*ta"ri*at (?), n. [F.] The indigent class in the State; the body of proletarians.

Prol`e*ta"ri*ate (?), n. The lower classes; beggars. "The Italian proletariate." J. A. Symonds.

Prol"e*ta*ry (?), n.; pl. Proletaries (#). [ L. proletarius, fr. proles offspring. Cf. ProlÈtaire.] (Rom. Antiq.) A citizen of the lowest class, who served the state, not with property, but only by having children; hence, a common person.

Prol"i*cide (?), n. [L. proles offspring + caedere to kill.] The crime of destroying one's offspring, either in the womb or after birth. Bouvier.

Pro*lif"er*ate (?), v. t. [L. proles offspring + ferre to bear.]

1. (Biol.) To produce or form cells; especially, to produce cells rapidly.

2. (Zoˆl.) To produce zooids by budding.

Pro*lif`er*a"tion (?), n.

1. (Biol.) The continuous development of cells in tissue formation; cell formation. Virchow.

2. (Zoˆl.) The production of numerous zooids by budding, especially when buds arise from other buds in succession.

Pro*lif"er*ous (?), a. [L. proles offspring + -ferous.]

1. (Bot.) Bearing offspring; -- applied to a flower from within which another is produced, or to a branch or frond from which another rises, or to a plant which is reproduced by buds or gemmÊ.

2. (Zoˆl.) (a) Producing young by budding. (b) Producing sexual zooids by budding; -- said of the blastostyle of a hydroid. (c) Producing a cluster of branchlets from a larger branch; -- said of corals.

Proliferous cyst (Med.), a cyst that produces highly-organized or even vascular structures. Paget.

-- Pro*lif"er*ous*ly, adv.

Pro*lif"ic (?), a. [F. prolifique, fr. L. proles offspring (from pro for, forward + the root of alere to nourish) + facere to make. See Adult, Old, and Fact.]

1. Having the quality of generating; producing young or fruit; generative; fruitful; productive; -- applied to plants producing fruit, animals producing young, etc.; -- usually with the implied idea of frequent or numerous production; as, a prolific tree, female, and the like.

2. Serving to produce; fruitful of results; active; as, a prolific brain; a controversy prolific of evil.

3. (Bot.) Proliferous.

Pro*lif"ic*a*cy (?), n. Prolificness. [R.]

Pro*lif"ic*al (?), a. Producing young or fruit abundantly; fruitful; prolific. -- Pro*lif"ic*al*ly, adv.

Pro*lif"ic*ate (?), v. t. [See Prolific.] To make prolific; to fertilize; to impregnate. Sir T. Browne.

Pro*lif`i*ca"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. prolification, LL. prolificatio.]

1. The generation of young.

2. (Bot.) Reproduction by the growth of a plant, or part of a plant, directly from an older one, or by gemmÊ.

Pro*lif"ic*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being prolific; fruitfulness; prolificacy.

Pro*lix" (?; 277), a. [L. prolixus extended, long, prolix, probably fr. pro before, forward + liqui to flow, akin to liquidus liquid; cf. OL. lixa water: cf. F. prolixe. See Liquid.]