prochinge, approaching. Sackville, Induction, line 1. Cp. Sc. prochy-madame (Prush-madam!), a call to cows, Ramsey, Remin. = F. approchez, Madame!, see EDD. (s.v. Proochy).
procinct, readiness, preparation; ‘Procinct of war’, Chapman, tr. of Iliad, xii. 89. L. procintus, readiness for action.
prodigious, portentous, horrible. Mids. Night’s D. v. 419; King John, iii. 1. 46.
proface, much good may it do you. 2 Hen. IV, v. 3. 30; Chapman, Widow’s Tears, iv. 2 (Lysander). OF. prouface, ‘souhait qui veut dire, bien vous fasse’ (Roquefort); prou, advantage + fasse (L. faciat), may it do. See Nares.
profligate, routed. Butler, Hud. i. 3. 728. L. profligare, to strike down, overthrow.
profound, to fathom, to get to the bottom of. Sir T. Browne, Rel. Med., pt. 1, § 13.
prog, to search about, esp. for food; ‘Man digs . . . He never rests . . . He mines and progs, though in the fangs of death’, Quarles, Job xiv. 60; ‘Each in his way doth incessantly prog for joy’, Barrow, Sermon, Rejoice evermore; ‘We need not cark or prog’, id. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Prog, vb. 2).
progress, the travel of the sovereign and court to visit different parts of his dominions. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 9; Massinger, Guardian, i. 1 (Durazzo). Progress-block, a block for a new fashion of hats, to be used on a progress, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at several Weapons, iv. 1.
proin, proyne (of a bird), to preen, prune, to trim or dress the feathers with the beak. B. Jonson, Underwood, Celebr. Charis, v; Gascoigne, Complaint of Philomene, st. 59, p. 98. Spelt prune, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 36; Cymb. v. 4. 118; 1 Hen. IV, i. 1. 98. ME. proynen (Chaucer, C. T. E. 2011). OF. poroign-, pres. pt. stem of poroindre, to trim feathers (Godefroy), L. pro + ungere, to anoint.
proine, proyne, to prune trees. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, l. 458; Bacon, Essay 50; Drayton, Pol. iii. 358; Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 6. 292; Homilies 1, Falling fr. God (NED.); Machin, Dumb Knight, iii. 1. Norm. F. progner (Moisy), OF. proignier, to prune (Godefroy), Romanic type, protundiare, deriv. of L. rotundus, round. Cp. F. rogner des branches, des racines, ‘couper tout autour’ (Hatzfeld). See [royne].