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Capable of being extended or prolonged; extensible; ductile.

The act of lengthening out or prolonging.

The anterior prolongation of the guard of the phragmocone of belemnites and allied fossil cephalopods, whether horny or calcareous. See Illust. of Phragmocone.

The act of counting in duration; prolongation. [Obs.] South.

To protract; to prolong; to extend. [Obs.] He prorogued his government. Dryden.

To draw out or lengthen in time or (rarely) in space; to continue; to prolong; as, to protract an argument; to protract a war.

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

A drawing out, or continuing; the act of delaying the termination of a thing; prolongation; continuance; delay; as, the protraction of a debate. A protraction only of what is worst in life. Mallock.

Drawing out or lengthening in time; prolonging; continuing; delaying. He suffered their protractive arts. Dryden.

Competitive action of any kind, especially when prolonged; hence, career; course of life. My race of glory run, and race of shame. Milton.

A prolongation or increase of any sound, eithar by reflection, as in a cavern or apartment the walls of which are not distant enough to return a distinct echo, or by the production of vibrations in other bodies, as a sounding-board, or the bodies of musical instruments. Pulmonary resonance (Med.), the sound heard on pe…

The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows; -- differing from suspension by resolving upwards instead of downwards.

A work constructed within another, to prolong the defense of the position when the enemy has gained possession of the outer work; or to protect the defenders till they can retreat or obtain terms for a capitulation.

A loud, deep, prolonged sound, as of a large beast, or of a person in distress, anger, mirth, etc., or of a noisy congregation.

Part; office; duty; rôle. [Obs.] L'Estrange. Long roll (Mil.), a prolonged roll of the drums, as the signal of an attack by the enemy, and for the troops to arrange themselves in line. -- Master of the rolls. See under Master. -- Roll call, the act, or the time, of calling over a list names, as among soldiers. -- Ro…

(Bot.), one of the slender, hairlike fibers found on the surface of fresh roots. They are prolongations of the superficial cells of the root into minute tubes. Gray. -- Root leaf (Bot.), a radical leaf. See Radical, a., 3 (b). -- Root louse (Zoöl.), any plant louse, or aphid, which lives on the roots of plants, as th…

A division of pectinibranchiate gastropods, having the head prolonged into a snout which is not retractile.

Any beaklike prolongation, esp. of the head of an animal, as the beak of birds.

A prolonged; indistinct noise. [Obs.] Shak.

Shaped like an arrowhead; triangular, with the two basal angles prolonged downward.