Part 582

1. Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; minute in narration or argument; excessively particular in detail; -- rarely used except with reference to discourse written or spoken; as, a prolix oration; a prolix poem; a prolix sermon.

With wig prolix, down flowing to his waist.

Cowper.

2. Indulging in protracted discourse; tedious; wearisome; -- applied to a speaker or writer.

Syn. -- Long; diffuse; prolonged; protracted; tedious; tiresome; wearisome. -- Prolix, Diffuse. A prolix writer delights in circumlocution, extended detail, and trifling particulars. A diffuse writer is fond of amplifying, and abounds in epithets, figures, and illustrations. Diffuseness often arises from an exuberance of imagination; prolixity is generally connected with a want of it.

Pro*lix"ious (?), a. Dilatory; tedious; superfluous. [Obs.] "Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes." Shak.

Pro*lix"i*ty (?), n. [L. prolixitas: cf. F. prolixitÈ.] The quality or state of being prolix; great length; minute detail; as, prolixity in discourses and writings. "For fulsomeness of his prolixitee." Chaucer.

Idly running on with vain prolixity.

Drayton.

Pro*lix"ly, adv. In a prolix manner. Dryden.

Pro*lix"ness, n. Prolixity. Adam Smith.

Proll (?), v. t. [See Prowl.] [imp. & p. p. Prolled (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Prolling.] To search or prowl after; to rob; to plunder. [Obs.] Barrow.

Proll, v. i. To prowl about; to rob. [Obs.] South.

Though ye prolle aye, ye shall it never find.

Chaucer.

Proll"er (?), n. Prowler; thief. [Obs.] Chapman.

Prol`o*cu"tor (?), n. [L., from proloqui, p. p. prolocutus, to speak out; pro for + loqui to speak.]

1. One who speaks for another. Jeffrey.

2. The presiding officer of a convocation. Macaulay.

Prol`o*cu"tor*ship, n. The office of a prolocutor.

Pro"log (?), n. & v. Prologue.

Pro"lo*gize (?), v. i. [Gr. &?;. See Prologue.] To deliver a Prologue. [R.] Whewell.

Pro"lo*gi`zer (?), n. One who prologizes. [R.]

Pro"logue (?), n. [F., fr. L. prologus, fr. Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to say beforehand; &?; before + &?; to say. See Logic.]

1. The preface or introduction to a discourse, poem, or performance; as, the prologue of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales;" esp., a discourse or poem spoken before a dramatic performance

2. One who delivers a prologue. [R.] Shak.

Pro"logue, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prologued (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Prologuing.] To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue. [R.] Shak.

Pro*long" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prolonged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Prolonging.] [F. prolonger, L. prolongare; pro before, forth + longus long. See Long, a., and cf. Prolongate, Purloin. ]