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To make with the mouth a prolonged sound like that of the letter s, by driving the breath between the tongue and the teeth; to make with the mouth a sound like that made by a goose or a snake when angered; esp., to make such a sound as an expression of hatred, passion, or disapproval. The merchants among the people sha…

A prolonged cry of distress or anguish; a wail.

To make a low, prolonged sound, like that of a bee in flight; to drone; to murmur; to buzz; as, a top hums. P. Fletcher. Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep. Pope.

Reciting in a musical prolonged tone; intonating, or singing of the opening phrase of a plain-chant, psalm, or canticle by a single voice, as of a priest. See Intone, v. t.

To utter with a musical or prolonged note or tone; to chant; as, to intone the church service.

, or complaint; a doleful story; a dolorous tirade; -- generally used satirically. He has prolonged his complaint into an endless jeremiad. Lamb.

A prolonged wail for a deceased person. Cf. Coranach. [Ireland] Froude.

rm snake of the genus Xyphorhynchus, from Madagascar. It is brownish red, and its hose is prolonged in the form of a sharp blade.

One of the straight horizontal and parallel prolonged strokes on and between which the notes are placed.

Prolonged, or relatively more prolonged, in utterance; -- said of vowels and syllables. See Short, a., 13, and Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 22, 30.

ocial excursion party that sojourns several days on the shore or in some retired place; a prolonged picnic. [Southern U. S.] Bartlett.

in the treatment of disease; a remedial agent; a remedy; physic. By medicine, life may be prolonged. Shak.

To make a low prolonged sound of grief or pain, whether articulate or not; to groan softly and continuously. Unpitied and unheard, where misery moans. Thomson. Let there bechance him pitiful mischances, To make him moan. Shak.

A morbid condition produced by the excessive or prolonged use of morphine.

A genus of ranunculaceous plants (Myosurus), in which the prolonged receptacle is covered with imbricating achenes, and so resembles the tail of a mouse.

A genus of climbing plants found in India, Malaya, etc., which have the leaves prolonged into a kind of stout tendril terminating in a pitcherlike appendage, whence the plants are often called pitcher plants and monkey-cups. There are about thirty species, of which the best known is Nepenthes distillatoria. See Pitcher…

Capable of being extended or prolonged; extensible; ductile.

prolong one's days. Prolong awhile the traitor's life. Shak. The unhappy queen with talk prolonged the night. Dryden.

Capable of being prolonged; as, life is prolongable by care. Each syllable being a prolongable quantity. Rush.

Prolonged; continued. Protracted meeting,a religious meeting continued for many successive days. [U. S.] -- Pro*tract"ed*ly, adv. -- Pro*tract"ed*ness, n.