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The quality or state of being prior or antecedent in time, or of preceding something else; as, priority of application.

The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations.

Consisting in the absence of something; not positive; negative. Privative blessings, blessings of immunity, safeguard, liberty, and integrity. Jer. Taylor.

In a privative manner; by the absence of something; negatively. [R.] Hammond.

That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power. I will depart my pris, or may prey, by deliberation. Chaucer. His own prize, Whom formerly he had in battle won. Spenser.

To thrust some pointed instrument into; to prick with something sharp; as, to prod a soldier with a bayonet; to prod oxen; hence, to goad, to incite, to worry; as, to prod a student. H. Taylor.

Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. So many terrors, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign. Milton.

An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender; as, proffers of peace or friendship. He made a proffer to lay down his commission. Clarendon.

One who proffers something.

Indicating something future by signs or symptoms; foreshowing; aiding in prognosis; as, the prognostic symptoms of a disease; prognostic signs.

The act of foreshowing or foretelling something future by present signs; prediction.

That which is projected or designed; something intended or devised; a scheme; a design; a plan. Vented much policy, and projects deep. Milton. Projects of happiness devised by human reason. Rogers. He entered into the project with his customary ardor. Prescott.

A jutting out; also, a part jutting out, as of a building; an extension beyond something else.

The quality or state of being prominent; a standing out from something; conspicuousness.

Standing out, or projecting, beyond the line surface of something; jutting; protuberant; in high relief; as, a prominent figure on a vase.

Containing a promise or binding declaration of something to be done or forborne. Promissory note (Law), a written promise to pay to some person named, and at a time specified therein, or on demand, or at sight, a certain sum of money, absolutely and at all events; -- frequently called a note of hand. Kent. Byles. Story…

To support, or prevent from falling, by placing something under or against; as, to prop up a fence or an old building; (Fig.) to sustain; to maintain; as, to prop a declining state. Shak. Till the bright mountains prop the incumbent sky. Pope. For being not propp'd by ancestry. Shak. I prop myself upon those few suppor…

A declaration of something to come; a foretelling; a prediction; esp., an inspired foretelling. He hearkens after prophecies and dreams. Shak. Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. 2. Pet. i. 21.

Adjusted to something else according to a proportion; proportional. Longfellow. What is proportionate to his transgression. Locke.

The act or process of prosecuting, or of endeavoring to gain or accomplish something; pursuit by efforts of body or mind; as, the prosecution of a scheme, plan, design, or undertaking; the prosecution of war. Keeping a sharp eye on her domestics . . . in prosecution of their various duties. Sir W. Scott.…