properties, rude paintings for scenery, or stage appliances. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, iii. 2 (Carlo); dresses for the actors, id., iv. 2 (Donella).
property, an implement, tool for a purpose. Merry Wives, iii. 4. 10; Jul. Caesar, iv. 1. 40; to use as a tool, King John, v. 2. 72.
propice, propitious, favourable. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Augustus, § 31; propise, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 4. F. propice; L. propitius.
propriety, peculiarity, special nature. Bacon, Essay 3, § 2; property, Dryden, Marriage a la Mode, v. 1 (Rhodophil). F. ‘proprieté, a property speciality in; the nature, quality, inclination of’ (Cotgr.).
prospective, a magic glass or crystal in which it was supposed that distant or future events could be seen, Bacon, Essay 26; glasse prospective, Greene, Friar Bacon, v. 110. The word also means a telescope, J. Taylor (Water Poet), Fennor’s Defence (NED.). Also, a scene, a view, Porter, Angry Women, i. 1. 12. F. prospective, ‘the prospective or optick art; also, a bounded prospect, a limited view’ (Cotgr.).
prostrate, one who is prostrate as a suppliant or a vanquished foe, Otway, Don Carlos, i. 1.
protense, extension, a story long drawn out. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 4. L. protensus, drawn out; pp. of protendere, to draw forth.
protract, delay, procrastination. Ferrex and Porrex, iv. 2 (Porrex).
provand, food, provisions. Coriolanus, ii. 1. 267; Caxton, Reynard (Arber, p. 60). Flemish, provande, Fr. provende, Romanic type provenda for eccles. L. praebenda, a daily allowance (Dict. Christ. Antiq.).
provant, provender, food. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, ii. 1. Also, one who deals in provisions, a sutler. Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, i. 1 (Nicodemus). Hence, Provant, of or belonging to the ‘provant’ or soldier’s allowance, and therefore, of common or inferior quality, Webster, Appius and Virg. i. 4; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iii. 1 (Bobadil).