Wiktionary

prose

See also: Prose and pro se

English

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Prose Edda in ancient manuscript.
 
Printed prose followed by verses on the same page for illustration

Etymology

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From Middle English prose, from Old French prose, from Latin prōsa (“straightforward”) from the term prōsa ōrātiō (“a straightforward speech – i.e. without the ornaments of verse”).[1][2]

further etymology and related terms

The term prōsa (“straightforward”), a colloquial form of prorsa (“straight forwards”), the feminine form prorsus (“straight forwards”), from Old Latin prōvorsus (“moving straight ahead”), from pro- (“forward”) + vorsus (“turned”), form of vertō (“I turn”).[2] Compare verse.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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prose (usually uncountable, plural proses)

  1. Language, particularly written language, not intended as poetry.
    Though known mostly for her prose, she also produced a small body of excellent poems.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost (1st ed)‎[1]:
      ...Or if Sion Hill
      Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow’d
      Faft by the Oracle of God; I thence
      Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
      That with no middle flight intends to soar
      Above th’ Ionian Mounts while it pursues
      Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime...
  2. Language which evinces little imagination or animation; dull and commonplace discourse.
  3. (Roman Catholicism) A hymn with no regular meter, sometimes introduced into the Mass.
    • 1699, A new ecclesiastical history‎[3]:
      Proses are parts of the Office of the Mass which are sung just before the Gospel, upon great Festivals. The French also call those Rhythmical Hymns Proses, which are sung in their Offices in the Church of Rome, in which Rhime only, and not Quantity of Syllables, is observed.

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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prose (third-person singular simple present proses, present participle prosing, simple past and past participle prosed)

  1. To write or repeat in a dull, tedious, or prosy way.
    • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act I, scene II, verses 189-190:
      Pray, do not prose, good Ethelbert, but speak;
      What is your purpose?
    • 1896, Robert Smythe Hichens, The Folly of Eustace‎[4]:
      Already he felt himself near to being a celebrity. He had astonished Eton. That was a good beginning. Papa might prose, knowing, of course, nothing of the poetry of caricature, of the wild joys and the laurels that crown the whimsical. So while Mr. Lane hunted adjectives, and ran sad-sounding and damnatory substantives to earth, Eustace hugged himself, and secretly chuckled over his pilgrim's progress towards the pages of Vanity Fair.

References

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  1. ^ “prose, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 29 September 2021.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “prose”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

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Czech

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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prose

  1. locative singular of proso

Etymology 2

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Verb

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prose

  1. masculine singular present transgressive of prosit
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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin prōsa.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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prose f (plural proses)

  1. prose

Derived terms

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Verb

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prose

  1. inflection of proser:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Italian

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Noun

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prose f

  1. plural of prosa

Anagrams

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Lower Sorbian

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proseta

Etymology

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From Proto-Slavic *porsę.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈprɔsɛ/, [ˈprɔsə]

Noun

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prose n (genitive singular proseśa, nominative dual proseśi, nominative plural proseta)

  1. piglet

Declension

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declension of prose
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative prose proseśi proseta
Genitive proseśa proseśowu prosetow
Dative proseśeju proseśoma prosetam
Accusative prose proseśi proseta
Instrumental proseśim proseśoma prosetami
Locative proseśu proseśoma prosetach

Further reading

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  • Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “prose”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
  • Starosta, Manfred (1999) “prose”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
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