Prouter (thieves’), to complain; (popular) to call out, to holloa.
Prouteur, m., prouteuse, f. (thieves’), one who grumbles, snarling person.
Proye, m. (old cant), the behind, “one-eyed cheek.” See [Prose].
[Prudhomme], m. (familiar), canting individual, man who is in the habit of giving utterance to grandiloquent platitudes. From the character of Monnier’s Joseph Prudhomme. Monsieur Prudhomme, who has also been portrayed by the caricaturist Cham, is the type of the pompous, silly bourgeois. He is made to say on one occasion, “Ce sabre est le plus beau jour de ma vie,” and on another, “Le char de l’état navigue sur un volcan.”
Prudhommesque, adj. (familiar), after the fashion of [Monsieur Prudhomme] (which see).
Prune, f. (popular), or pruneau, bullet, or shell; —— de Monsieur Bishop. Literally a large violet-coloured plum. Prunes, testicles, or “stones.” Gober la ——, to receive a mortal wound. Avoir sa ——, to be intoxicated, or “lushy.” Mangeur de prunes, tailor, “goose-persuader, or button-catcher.”
Pruneau, m. (popular), bullet; lump of excrement, or “quaker.” Recevoir un ——, to be shot. Pruneau, quid of tobacco. Sucer un ——, to chew tobacco. Les pruneaux, the eyes, or “peepers.” Boucher ses pruneaux, to sleep, “to doss.”
Prunot, m. (popular), spirit and tobacco shop.
Prusse, f. (familiar and popular), travailler pour le roi de ——, to work to no purpose, gratis.