<B>proliferation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>reproduction, as by budding or cell division. <DD><B> 2. </B>a spreading; propagation. <BR> <I>Ex. The draft of the test ban treaty contained an expression of desire to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons (Seymour Topping).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="proliferative">
<B>proliferative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> characterized by or tending to proliferation. <BR> <I>Ex. proliferative cancer cells.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="proliferous">
<B>proliferous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>producing new individuals, as by budding or cell division. <DD><B> 2. </B>producing an addition from a part that is normally ultimate, such as a shoot or a new flower from the midst of a flower. adv. <B>proliferously.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="prolific">
<B>prolific, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>producing many offspring. <BR> <I>Ex. Rabbits are prolific animals.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>producing much. <BR> <I>Ex. a prolific tree, a prolific garden, a prolific writer, (Figurative.) a prolific imagination.</I> (SYN) fertile. <DD><B> 3. </B>characterized by abundant production. <BR> <I>Ex. a garden prolific of weeds.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>conducive to growth or fruitfulness. <BR> <I>Ex. a prolific climate.</I> adv. <B>prolificly.</B> noun <B>prolificness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="prolificacy">
<B>prolificacy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality or state of being prolific. <BR> <I>Ex. The only feature which keeps oysters from extinction is their prolificacy (Hegner and Stiles).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="prolifically">
<B>prolifically, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a prolific manner. </DL>
<A NAME="prolificity">
<B>prolificity, </B>noun. =prolificacy.</DL>
<A NAME="proline">
<B>proline, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an amino acid, a product of the decomposition of certain proteins. </DL>
<A NAME="prolix">
<B>prolix, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> using too many words; too long; tedious. <BR> <I>Ex. Conscious dullness has little right to be prolix (Samuel Johnson).</I> (SYN) wordy, verbose. adv. <B>prolixly.</B> noun <B>prolixness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="prolixity">
<B>prolixity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> too great length; tedious length of speech or writing. <BR> <I>Ex. the insufferable prolixity of the most prolix of hosts (Charles J. Lever).</I> </DL>
<B>Prolocutor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the Lord Chancellor, as chairman of the House of Lords. </DL>
<A NAME="prolocutorship">
<B>prolocutorship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the office or position of a prolocutor. </DL>
<A NAME="prologue">
<B>prologue</B> or <B>prolog, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an introduction to a novel, poem, film, or other literary or dramatic work. <DD><B> 2. </B>a speech or poem addressed to the audience by one of the actors at the beginning of a play. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) any introductory act or event. <BR> <I>Ex. The conference ... had a prologue and epilogue of arrivals and departures (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>the actor who speaks the prologue to a play. </DL>
<A NAME="prologuize">
<B>prologuize</B> or <B>prologize, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to compose a prologue. <DD><B> 2. </B>to deliver a prologue. <BR> <I>Ex. There may prologuize the spirit of Philip (Milton).</I> noun <B>prologuizer,</B> <B>prologizer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="prolong">
<B>prolong, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make longer; extend; stretch. <BR> <I>Ex. Good care may prolong a sick person's life. The author cleverly prolonged the suspense in his mystery novel. It was useless to prolong the discussion (Edith Wharton).</I> (SYN) protract. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) to put off in time; postpone. <BR> <I>Ex. This wedding-day Perhaps is but prolong'd: have patience (Shakespeare).</I> adj. <B>prolongable.</B> noun <B>prolonger.</B> noun <B>prolongment.</B> </DL>
<B>prolongation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the action of lengthening in time or space; extension. <BR> <I>Ex. the prolongation of one's school days by a year of graduate study. ... the sofas resembling a prolongation of uneasy chairs (George Eliot).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an added part. <BR> <I>Ex. The mountains to the right formed a prolongation of the range.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="prolonge">
<B>prolonge, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a strong rope with a hook at one end and a toggle at the other, formerly used in moving unlimbered guns. </DL>
<A NAME="prolonged">
<B>prolonged, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>lengthened; extended. <BR> <I>Ex. the last guest who had made a prolonged stay in his hotel (Joseph Conrad).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>beyond the ordinary, especially in length. <BR> <I>Ex. The dog uttered prolonged howls whenever the family left the house. ... a lean, lank, dark, young man with ... irregular, rather prolonged features (H. G. Wells).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="prolotherapy">
<B>prolotherapy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an orthopedic treatment for healing and hardening torn spinal ligaments by the injection of a substance that causes scar tissue to proliferate. </DL>
<A NAME="prolusion">
<B>prolusion, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a preliminary. <BR> <I>Ex. But why such long prolusion and display, Such turning and adjustment of the harp? (Robert Browning).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>an introductory exercise, performance, essay, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. All this tiresome prolusion is only to enable you to understand (W. H. Hudson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="prolusory">
<B>prolusory, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> serving for prolusion; introductory. </DL>
<A NAME="prom">
<B>prom</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a dance or ball given by a college or high-school class. </DL>
<A NAME="prom">
<B>prom</B> (2) or <B>Prom, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) a promenade concert. </DL>
<B>promazine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a tranquilizing drug used to relieve anxiety and tension in mental illness, alcoholism, and drug addiction. </DL>
<A NAME="promemoria">
<B>pro memoria,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) for remembrance; for a memorial. </DL>
<A NAME="promenade">
<B>promenade, </B>noun, verb, <B>-naded,</B> <B>-nading.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a walk for pleasure or for show. <BR> <I>Ex. a promenade in the park. The Easter promenade is well known as a fashion show.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a public place for such a walk. <BR> <I>Ex. The boardwalk at Atlantic City is a famous promenade along the beach.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a dance or ball; prom. <DD><B> 4. </B>a march of all the guests at the opening of a formal dance. <DD><B> 5. </B>a ride, drive, or excursion in a boat. <BR> <I>Ex. What do you think of a little promenade at sea? (Joseph Conrad).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a square-dancing figure in which a couple or, usually, all the couples of a set march once around the square, circle, or the hall. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to walk about or up and down for exercise, for pleasure, or for show. <BR> <I>Ex. He promenaded back and forth on the ship's deck.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to walk through; walk about. <DD><B> 2. </B>to take on a promenade. noun <B>promenader.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="promenadeconcert">
<B>promenade concert,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a concert at which the audience stands instead of being seated. </DL>
<A NAME="promenadedeck">
<B>promenade deck,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a space, usually enclosed, on an upper deck of a ship where passengers can walk about without being exposed to the weather. </DL>
<A NAME="promethazine">
<B>promethazine, </B>noun. =Phenergan.</DL>
<A NAME="promethean">
<B>Promethean, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or suggestive of Prometheus, especially in his skill or art; daringly original. <BR> <I>Ex. Andrews is drawn to whatever in architecture is boldly marked with personality, whatever is Promethean and existential (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="prometheus">
<B>Prometheus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) one of the Titans. He stole fire from heaven and taught men its use, for which Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock. </DL>
<A NAME="promethium">
<B>promethium, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a radioactive metallic chemical element which is the product of the fission of uranium, thorium, and plutonium; (formerly) illinium. <BR> <I>Ex. The only rare earth not found in nature is promethium (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="promin">
<B>Promin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Trademark.) a drug derived from sulfone, used in the treatment of leprosy and tuberculosis. </DL>
<A NAME="prominence">
<B>prominence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the quality or fact of being prominent, distinguished, or conspicuous. <BR> <I>Ex. the prominence of Washington as a leader, the prominence of football as a sport, the prominence of athletics in some schools.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>something that juts out or projects, especially upward; projection. A hill is a prominence. <DD><B> 3. </B>a cloud of gas which erupts from the sun and is seen as either a projection from, or a dark spot on, the surface of the sun. <BR> <I>Ex. Spectacular upsurgings of gases in the chromosphere, known as prominences, are sometimes seen: these may shoot out to distances of the order of a few hundred thousand miles (A. J. Higgs).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="prominent">
<B>prominent, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>wellknown or important; distinguished. <BR> <I>Ex. a prominent citizen.</I> (SYN) leading. <DD><B> 2. </B>easy to see; that catches the eye. <BR> <I>Ex. A single tree in a field is prominent.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>standing out; projecting. <BR> <I>Ex. Some insects have prominent eyes.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=puss moth.</B> adv. <B>prominently.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="promiscuity">
<B>promiscuity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the fact or condition of being promiscuous. </DL>
