n. [ OE. napron, OF. naperon, F. napperon, dim. of OF. nape, F. nappe, cloth, tablecloth, LL. napa, fr. L. mappa, napkin, table napkin. See Map. ] 1. An article of dress, of cloth, leather, or other stuff, worn on the fore part of the body, to keep the clothes clean, to defend them from injury, or as a covering. It is commonly tied at the waist by strings. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Something which by its shape or use suggests an apron; as, (a) The fat skin covering the belly of a goose or duck. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. (b) A piece of leather, or other material, to be spread before a person riding on an outside seat of a vehicle, to defend him from the rain, snow, or dust; a boot. “The weather being too hot for the apron.” Hughes. (c) (Gun.) A leaden plate that covers the vent of a cannon. (d) (Shipbuilding) A piece of carved timber, just above the foremost end of the keel. Totten. (e) A platform, or flooring of plank, at the entrance of a dock, against which the dock gates are shut. (f) A flooring of plank before a dam to cause the water to make a gradual descent. (g) (Mech.) The piece that holds the cutting tool of a planer. (h) (Plumbing) A strip of lead which leads the drip of a wall into a gutter; a flashing. (i) (Zool.) The infolded abdomen of a crab. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Wearing an apron. [ 1913 Webster ]

A cobbler aproned, and a parson gowned. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Apronfuls The quantity an apron can hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without an apron. [ 1913 Webster ]

A man who wears an apron; a laboring man; a mechanic. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The string of an apron. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be tied to a wife's apron strings or
To be tied to a mother's apron strings, to be unduly controlled by a wife or mother. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was so made that he could not submit to be tied to the apron strings even of the best of wives. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

def>A method of pronouncing Latin and Greek in which the vowels have their more familiar Continental values, as in German and Italian, the consonants being pronounced mostly as in English. The stricter form of this method of pronouncing Latin approaches the Roman, the modified form the English, pronunciation. The Continental method of Greek pronunciation is often called Erasmian. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Cf. OE. lampreon. See Lamprey. ] (Zool.) See Lamprey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Mispronounced p. pr. & vb. n. Mispronouncing ] To pronounce incorrectly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Wrong or improper pronunciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., fr. Gr. &unr_;; &unr_; before + &unr_; temple. ] (Arch.) The porch or vestibule of a temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pronatus, p. p. of pronare to bend forward. See Prone. ] Somewhat prone; inclined; as, pronate trees. Kane. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. pronation. ] (Physiol.) (a) The act of turning the palm or palmar surface of the forefoot downward. (b) That motion of the forearm whereby the palm or palmar, surface is turned downward. (c) The position of the limb resulting from the act of pronation. Opposed to supination. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] (Anat.) A muscle which produces pronation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pronus, akin to Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, Skr. pravana sloping, inclined, and also to L. pro forward, for. See Pro-. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Bending forward; inclined; not erect. [ 1913 Webster ]

Towards him they bend
With awful reverence prone. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Prostrate; flat; esp., lying with the face down; -- opposed to supine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Which, as the wind,
Blew where it listed, laying all things prone. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Headlong; running downward or headlong. “Down thither prone in flight.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Sloping, with reference to a line or surface; declivous; inclined; not level. [ 1913 Webster ]

Since the floods demand,
For their descent, a prone and sinking land. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Inclined; propense; disposed; -- applied to the mind or affections, usually in an ill sense. Followed by to. “Prone to mischief.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Poets are nearly all prone to melancholy. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a prone manner or position. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The quality or state of being prone, or of bending downward; as, the proneness of beasts is opposed to the erectness of man. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of lying with the face down; -- opposed to supineness. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Descent; declivity; as, the proneness of a hill. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Inclination of mind, heart, or temper; propension; disposition; as, proneness to self-gratification. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the pronephros. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖‖/mhw>, n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; before + &unr_; a kidney. ] (Anat.) The head kidney. See under Head. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. D. prangen to pinch, press, LG. prange a stick, or W. procio to thrust, E. prowl, pang. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sharp-pointed instrument. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prick it on a prong of iron. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The tine of a fork, or of a similar instrument; as, a fork of two or three prongs. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) (a) A sharp projection, as of an antler. (b) The fang of a tooth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The springbuck. (b) The pronghorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having prongs or projections like the tines of a fork; as, a three-pronged fork. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hoe with prongs to break the earth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) An American antelope (Antilocapra Americana), native of the plain near the Rocky Mountains. The upper parts are mostly yellowish brown; the under parts, the sides of the head and throat, and the buttocks, are white. The horny sheath of the horns is shed annually. Called also cabrée, cabut, prongbuck, and pronghorned antelope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. pronitas. ] Proneness; propensity. [ R. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To jump straight up or almost straight up; -- used of kangaroos and gazelles. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Some less common gaits used only by few animals are the ricochet, the pronk and the bound. The ricochet is the gait principally employed by a class of animals such as the kangaroo. The pronk is a gait used by quadrupeds such as gazelle and it is equivalent to the ricochet except that both the front and back sets of of feet perform the same action. The bound is used by a few small quadrupeds such as squirrels and dogs. In the bound support alternates between pairs of legs, with the fore and hind acting to push the body forward. Ionnas Poulakakis (https://web.archive.org/web/20041213012817/http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~poulakas/legged_locomotion/gaits.html) [ PJC ]

a. [ L. pronominalis: cf. F. pronominal. See Pronoun. ] Belonging to, or partaking of the nature of, a pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To give the effect of a pronoun to; as, to pronominalize the substantives person, people, etc. Early. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a pronominal manner&unr_; with the nature or office of a pronoun; as a pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖a. [ F. See Pronounce. ] Strongly marked; decided, as in manners, etc.; pronounced. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Prothonotary. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Pronota [ NL. See Pro-, and Notum. ] (Zool.) The dorsal plate of the prothorax in insects. See Illust. of Coleoptera. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. pro- + noun: cf. F. pronom, L. pronomen. See Noun. ] (Gram.) A word used instead of a noun or name, to avoid the repetition of it. The personal pronouns in English are I, thou or you, he, she, it, we, ye, and they. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To give a pronunciation; to articulate; as, to pronounce faultlessly. Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make declaration; to utter on opinion; to speak with confidence. [ R. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Pronouncement; declaration; pronunciation. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pronounced p. pr. & vb. n. Pronounging ] [ F. prononcer, L. pronunciare; pro before, forth + nunciare, nuntiare, to announce. See Announce. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To utter articulately; to speak out or distinctly; to utter, as words or syllables; to speak with the proper sound and accent as, adults rarely learn to pronounce a foreign language correctly. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To utter officially or solemnly; to deliver, as a decree or sentence; as, to pronounce sentence of death. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sternly he pronounced
The rigid interdiction. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To speak or utter rhetorically; to deliver; to recite; as, to pronounce an oration. [ 1913 Webster ]

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To declare or affirm; as, he pronounced the book to be a libel; he pronounced the act to be a fraud. [ 1913 Webster ]

The God who hallowed thee and blessed,
Pronouncing thee all good. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To deliver; utter; speak. See Deliver. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. L. pronunciabilis declarative. ] Capable of being pronounced. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. prononcé. ] Strongly marked; unequivocal; decided. [ A Gallicism ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ His ] views became every day more pronounced. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of pronouncing; a declaration; a formal announcement. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who pronounces, utters, or declares; also, a pronouncing book. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as pronunciation; -- a common misspelling (written only). [ misspelling ] [ PJC ]

a. Pertaining to, or indicating, pronunciation; as, a pronouncing dictionary. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pronuba bridesmaid; pro before + nubere to marry. ] Presiding over marriage. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Pronuclei [ NL. See Pro-, and Nucleus. ] (Biol.) One of the two bodies or nuclei (called male and female pronuclei) which unite to form the first segmentation nucleus of an impregnated ovum. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the maturing of the ovum preparatory to impregnation, a part of the germinal vesicle (see Polar body, under Polar) becomes converted into a number of small vesicles, which aggregate themselves into a single clear nucleus. which travels towards the center of the egg and is called the female pronucleus. In impregnation, the spermatozoon which enters the egg soon loses its tail, while the head forms a nucleus, called the male pronucleus, which gradually travels towards the female pronucleus and eventually fuses with it, forming the first segmentation nucleus. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to pronunciation; pronunciative. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A proclamation or manifesto; a formal announcement or declaration. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp. See Pronounce. ] See Pronunciamento. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. pronunciation, L. pronunciatio. See Pronounce. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of uttering with articulation; the act of giving the proper sound and accent; utterance; as, the pronunciation of syllables of words; distinct or indistinct pronunciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The mode of uttering words or sentences. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Rhet.) The art of manner of uttering a discourse publicly with propriety and gracefulness; -- now called delivery. J. Q. Adams. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pronunciativus. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Of or pertaining to pronunciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Uttering confidently; dogmatical. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., a reciter. ] One who pronounces; a pronouncer. [ 1913 Webster ]