From the second edition (1989):
pro-, prefix2
(prəʊ)
Repr. the Gr. preposition πρό, meaning ‘before’ (of time, position, preference, priority, etc.), forming in Greek many compounds—verbs, substantives, and adjectives. Of the ns. and their derivatives more than 60 were adopted in late Latin as technical terms of rhetoric, philosophy, natural history, art, and Jewish or Christian religion (e.g. problēma, proboscis, prodromus, prolēpsis, prologus, prophēta (prophētīa, prophēticus, prophētizāre), propolis, proscænium, prostylus, protasis). With the revival of learning many more Greek terms were latinized. Many of these latinized forms of both periods have been adopted or adapted in the modern languages generally, and have subsequently served as models for the formation of new combinations from Greek (less commonly from Latin) elements, in the nomenclature of modern science and philosophy. The older and more important of the English words so derived appear in their alphabetical order as Main words. Those in which pro- is more obviously a prefix to a word itself used in English, or which are merely technical terms, follow here.
1. In sense ‘Before in time’: forming (a) ns., chiefly scientific terms denominating the earlier, or (supposed) primitive type of an animal, plant, organ, or structure (with derived adjs.); (b) adjs. meaning ‘previous to or preceding that which is expressed by the second element’.
proaccelerin (-ækˈsɛlərɪn) Biochem., a relatively labile procoagulant present in the blood; proˈactivator Biochem., a precursor of the activator of a compound; pro-agonic (-əˈgɒnɪk) a., Path., preceding a paroxysm; pro-ˈamnion, the primitive amnion in the embryonic stage of some animals; hence pro-amniˈotic a., pertaining to the pro-amnion; ‖pro-amphibia (-æmˈfɪbɪə) n. pl. Zool., the (hypothetical) primitive or ancestral amphibious animals; pro-angiosperm (-ˈændʒɪəʊspɜːm) Bot., a primitive or ancestral angiosperm, from which the existing angiosperms are supposed to have been developed; hence pro-angioˈspermic a.; pro-bapˈtismal a., preceding or preparatory to baptism; probaˈsidium Bot. [ad. F. probaside (P. Van Tieghem 1893, in Jrnl. de Bot. VII. 80)], in some fungi, a part of a basidium, or an early stage in its development, in which nuclear fusion takes place; probiˈotic a. = prebiological, prebiotic adjs.; proˈcarcinogen, a substance that is not directly carcinogenic itself but is converted in the body into one that is; so proˌcarcinoˈgenic a.; prochorion (-ˈkɔərɪən) Embryol., the vitelline membrane or integument of the ovum, which develops into the chorion; procoˈagulant n. and a. Biochem., (of or pertaining to) any substance that promotes the conversion of the inactive prothrombin to the clotting enzyme thrombin; proconˈvertin Biochem. [convert v.], a relatively stable procoagulant present in the blood; pro-ˈdialogue (nonce-wd.), an introductory dialogue; prodissoconch (-ˈdɪsəʊkɒŋk), Zool. [Gr. δισσό-ς double + conch], a name suggested for the early shell of the oyster; proeˈrythroblast Med. [ad. It. proeritroblasti (A. Ferrata Morfologia del Sangue (1912) v. 232)], the earliest recognizable precursor of the red-cell series, characterized by a large nucleus with nucleoli and by basophilic cytoplasm; proestrus, var. proœstrum below; ˌprofibrinoˈlysin Biochem. = plasminogen; progametange (-ˈgæmiːtændʒ), -gameˈtangium Biol., ‘an immature or resting gametangium’ (Cent. Dict.); †proˈgamete Biol., a structure able to give rise to one or more gametes; proganoid (-ˈgænɔɪd) Ichthyol., a. of or belonging to the primitive (fossil) ganoid fishes; n. a primitive ganoid; proganosaur (-ˈgænəʊsɔə(r)) Palæont. [Gr. γάνος brightness + σαῦρος lizard], n. a member of the order Proganosauria of extinct reptiles; adj. belonging to this order; proˈgymnosperm, Bot., a primitive or ancestral gymnosperm, from which the existing gymnosperms are supposed to have been developed; hence progymnoˈspermic a.; proˈheterocyst Biol., an incipient heterocyst; proˈhormone Physiol., a natural precursor of a hormone; proinsulin (prəʊˈɪn-) Biochem., the natural precursor of insulin; proˈkosmial a., nonce-wd. [Gr. κόσµος world: see cosmos], existing before the cosmos or universe; proˈmammal Zool., one of the (hypothetical) Promammalia or primitive mammals; so promaˈmmalian a.; proˈmeristem Bot., primary meristem, protomeristem; ˌpromitoˈchondrion Cytology, an inactive form of mitochondrion; proˈmyelocyte Med., a cell intermediate in development between a myeloblast and a mature myelocyte; so proˈmyelocytic a.; pronymph (ˈprəʊnɪmf), Entom. [see nymph n. 3], a stage in the development of some dipterous insects, intervening between the larval and pupal stages (cf. propupa below); hence proˈnymphal a.; ‖pro-œstrum (-ˈiːstrəm, -ˈɛs-) (proestrus, proœstrus) Zool., the period immediately preceding that of the œstrum or sexual excitement in animals; so pro-ˈœstrous a., preceding the œstrum; belonging to the pro-œstrum; proˈpeptone (see quot. 1895); ‖properistoma (-pəˈrɪstəmə), properistome (-ˈpɛrɪstəʊm) Embryol. [cf. peristome], the lip of the primitive mouth of a gastrula; hence properiˈstomal a.; proˈplastid Cytology, a small unspecialized plastid, able to differentiate into a plastid of any type characteristic of the species; ‖propupa (-ˈpjuːpə) Entom., a stage in the development of some insects, as the cochineal-insect, intervening between the larval and pupal stages (cf. pronymph above); prorenal (-ˈriːnəl) a. Embryol. [see renal], belonging to the primitive kidney or segmental body; ‖proscolex (-ˈskəʊlɛks), Zool., pl. proscolices (-ˈskəʊlɪsiːz) [Gr. σκώληξ worm], the first embryonic stage of a cestode or tape-worm, from which the scolex is developed by budding; hence proscolecine (-ˈskəʊlɪsaɪn) a., pertaining to a proscolex; proseˈcretin Physiol., a supposed precursor of secretin; ‖prospoˈrangium Bot. (pl. -ia) = prozoosporange; proˈtheca [theca], in Foraminifera, the primary wall; proˈtrichocyst Zool. [ad. G. protrichocyste (B. M. Klein 1928, in Arch. f. Protistenkunde LXII. 210)], an undeveloped trichocyst; protrypsin (-ˈtrɪpsɪn) Phys. Chem., a substance formed in the pancreas, and afterwards converted into trypsin; also called trypsinogen; prozoosporange (-ˌzəʊəʊspɒˈrændʒ) Bot., a stage in the development of certain fungi, which produces a thin-walled process into which the protoplasm passes and divides into zoospores.
1951 P. A. Owren in Proc. 3rd Internat. Congr. Internat. Soc. Hematol. 379, I wish to propose the terms *proaccelerin and accelerin instead of Factor V and Factor VI, because‥these factors constitute the system which is responsible for the acceleration of thrombin formation. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. II. 266/1 The interreactions of tissue thromboplastin, calcium ions, and several proteins of plasma, including proaccelerin‥and proconvertin, result in the conversion of prothrombin into a proteolytic enzyme, thrombin. 1956 T. Astrup in Blood XI. 783 In blood, human milk, tears, and in other body fluids enzymatically acting activators of plasminogen are also found, or can be produced. The production of activating agents in these cases is caused by the transformation of a precursor (a *proactivator). 1973 Jrnl. Clin. Invest. LII. 2591/2 Conversion of highly purified plasminogen proactivator to plasminogen activator was shown to result in the generation of chemotactic activity. 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 621 The termination is doubtful, and transition into the *pro-agonic stage not rare. 1890 Billings Med. Dict., *Pro-amnion, term applied by van Beneden and Julin to an area around the head of the very young embryo in which there is no mesoderm, the ectoderm and endoderm being in direct contact, and which is soon obliterated by the ingrowth of mesoderm. 1889 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sc. Dec. 290 Long after the true amnion has been quite completed the head gradually emerges from this *pro-amniotic pit. 1901 Nature 14 Mar. 462/2 Connected through a series of hypothetical *Proamphibia or Protetrapoda with equally hypothetical Selachian-like animals. 1886 Ibid. 25 Feb. 389/1 The ancestral ‘*pro-angiosperms’ are supposed to have borne leaves such as are found diminished or masked in so many of their existing descendants. Ibid. 389/2 Such was the nature of plants in their ‘*pro-angiospermic’ stage. 1840 G. S. Faber Christ's Disc. Capernaum viii. 230 note, Cyril has devoted to his painful *probaptismal instruction no fewer than eighteen Lectures. 1928 C. W. Dodge tr. Gäumann's Compar. Morphol. Fungi xxv. 415 This enlarged hyphal cell which‥forms the first stage of the basidium‥is called [the] *probasidium. 1979 I. K. Ross Biol. Fungi vi. 156 In the spring, each cell of the teliospore [in Puccinia graminis] functions as a probasidium and produces a thin-walled metabasidium. 1954 New Biol. XVI. 44 We have as yet no basis for confidence about the *probiotic state. 1971 J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xxvi. 372 A probiotic soup of amino-acids, ribose, four purine and pyrimidine bases, and a source of high-energy phosphate. 1963 Clin. Pharmacol. & Therapeutics IV. 111/1 A compound requiring metabolic activation is one which when administered to animals is very likely not carcinogenic by itself (‘*procarcinogen’) but requires transformation in the host to become a ‘proximate’ carcinogen—a sort of lethal synthesis. 1975 Pharmacol. Basis of Cancer Chemotherapy 129 (heading) Procarcinogens and their bioactivation. 1944 Jrnl. Exper. Med. LXXX. 121 The papers dealing with the ‘cocarcinogens’ show clearly that the substances thus designated do not cause neoplastic changes but act either by enabling the real carcinogens to reach susceptible cells or by promoting the formation of growths. They are in other words *procarcinogenic. 1976 New Scientist 9 Dec. 586/2 Cigarette smoke‥contains procarcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons which are broken down by enzymes in the lungs. 1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man II. xix. 157 This *prochorion very soon disappears, and is replaced by the permanent outer egg-membrane, the chorion. 1958 Landaburu & Seegers in Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. CXCIII. 178/1 Other factors support the production and enzyme function of thrombin, and these we call *procoagulants. 1960 Nature 26 Mar. 930/2 The control of prothrombin activation is by a group of anticoagulants and procoagulants functioning in dynamic equilibrium. 1962 W. H. Seegers Prothrombin ix. 202 There is a procoagulant effect noticeable in whole blood or plasma following the alimentary intake of certain kinds of fats. 1971 R. S. Shepard Human Physiol. xiv. 243/2 (caption) Intermediates of prothrombin activation may result in the formation of a number of other procoagulants as well as anticoagulants. 1976 Nature 22 Apr. 711/2 It has been shown that human fibroblasts contain a potent procoagulant activity called ‘tissue factor’ (TF). 1951 P. A. Owren in Proc. 3rd Internat. Congr. Internat. Soc. Hematol. 383 This substance acts as the limiting factor for prothrombin conversion and I have thus chosen to give it the name *proconvertin. 1976 Nature 17 June 621/2 The coagulation of blood is envisaged as a complex but ordered succession of processes, and at least four of the many factors (prothrombin, proconvertin, Christmas factor and Stuart factor) are known to be dependent on vitamin K. 1884 Athenæum 12 July 41/1 In the *pro-dialogue to the ‘Isle of Gulls’ one of the characters says, ‘I cannot see it out.’ 1888 Jackson in Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. XXIII. 543 In the oyster‥this shell is not single but double-valved, and‥as it precedes the dissoconch or true shell, I suggest the name *prodissoconch, or early double shell. 1927 A. Piney Rec. Adv. Hæmatol. ii. 29 It is obvious that the adherents of the monophyletic school will be of opinion that the red corpuscle is derived from the primitive stem cell (hæmocytoblast). They contend that all sorts of transitions can be found between large non-hæmoglobiniferous cells (*pro-erythroblasts) and the mature, fully hæmoglobiniferous corpuscle. 1962 Lancet 27 Jan. 208/2 A continuous morphological spectrum of cells was evident, indicating many transitional forms between what appeared to be typical small lymphocytes and myeloblasts or proerythroblasts. 1969 Hayhoe & Flemans Atlas Haematol. Cytol. (1970) i. 7 The proerythroblast is not itself the functional stem cell serving as a self-maintaining progenitor of the normoblast series. 1947 E. C. Loomis et al. in Arch. Biochem. XII. 1 We suggest the following names for the compounds: 1). Fibrinolysin.‥ 2). *Profibrinolysin—the inactive form or precursor of fibrinolysin. This compound is the proenzyme form from serum or plasma activated by streptokinase, organic solvents and other enzyme activators. 1958 Observer 14 Dec. 4/3 A precursor, profibrinolysin, is present in the blood and is changed to fibrinolysin by natural agents released when needed. 1968 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 4) xxxi. 733 The proteolytic enzyme, plasmin (fibrinolysin), ordinarily exists in plasma as the inactive precursor‥plasminogen (profibrinolysin). 1892 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXXIII. 6 In my terminology I have used the word[s]‥gametogonium and *progamete to express, from slightly different points of view, a cell which divides to form gametes, or (rarely) passes into the state of a gamete. Ibid. 54 In most cases of so-called ‘parthenogenesis’ of Metazoa only one polar body is formed, and the ovum, rather a progamete than an oosphere, segments and develops directly. 1904 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. XL. 231 The zygospores are abundant between the gills of the host, and the progametes arise at times from branches of the same hypha. 1889 Nicholson & Lydekker Palæont. II. xlix. 959 *Proganoid Series. Ibid. 965 The last group of the Proganoids. 1900 Osborn in Amer. Naturalist Oct. 797 More probable than that the avian phylum should have originated quite independently from a quadrupedal *proganosaur. 1886 Nature 25 Feb. 389/2 In the remote past‥the cambium layer may have existed in an irregular or fugitive manner in the ‘pro-angiospermic’, as it did in the ‘*pro-gymnospermic’ stem. 1970 Nature 14 Nov. 686/1 A close pattern of heterocysts and presumptive heterocysts (‘*proheterocysts’) is apparent. 1973 Jrnl. Cell Sci. XIII. 641 In the presence of ammonia, heterocyst development is affected, so that a pattern consisting largely of proheterocysts, rather than mature heterocysts, is formed. 1935 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. CXII. 511 Many of the published opinions concerning the *prohormone have been made from incidental observations, rather than from directed experiments planned to give information concerning its existence or properties. 1970 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. LXVII. 1637 Unlike the islet cell, which stores hormone primarily in the form of insulin, the parathyroid may store its hormone as the prohormone, with conversion taking place when the gland is stimulated. 1977 Lancet 25 June 1341/2 Vitamin D is a pro-hormone which only becomes active on transformation to its 25-hydroxy derivative, a process that is subject to pronounced but poorly understood constraints. 1916 E. A. Schäfer Endocrine Organs xvii. 128 Provisionally, it will be convenient to refer to this hypothetical autacoid as insuline. It must, however, be stated that it has yet to be determined whether the active substance is present as such in the pancreas or whether it exists there as *pro-insuline, which becomes elsewhere converted into the active autacoid. 1967 D. F. Steiner et al. in Science 26 Apr. 700/2 The labeling data reported here support our earlier interpretation that component b is a precursor in the biosynthesis of insulin. It might be less cumbersome, therefore, to designate this material ‘proinsulin’. 1969 Nature 15 Nov. 696/1 Proinsulin has little or no biological activity, but is present in the circulation and produces insulin-like effects when injected into normal animals. 1970 Jrnl. Clin. Investigation XLIX. 506/2 At present data concerning the biological activity of human proinsulin are not available. 1855 Bailey Mystic (ed. 2) 36 Where the *pro-kosmial forms of thought abide. 1889 Proc. Zool. Soc. 262 If not the ‘*Promammal’ of Haeckel, it may perhaps have been a near relative of some such transitional form. 1876 tr. Haeckel's Hist. Creat. xxi. II. 235 The unknown, extinct Primary Mammals, or *Promammalia‥probably possessed a very highly developed jaw. 1898 tr. Strasburger's Bot. i. 90 The tissues‥are distinguished as primary and secondary, according as they are derived from the *promeristem or secondary meristem. 1925 Eames & MacDaniels Introd. Plant Anat. iii. 41 Promeristems gradually become differentiated. 1953 K. Esau Plant Anat. iv. 78 The initiating cells and their most recent derivatives are often distinguished, under the name of promeristem. 1976 Bell & Coombe tr. Strasburger's Textbk. Bot. (rev. ed.) 89 Primary embryonic tissues are those which are derived ontogenetically directly from the tissue of the embryo, and they are referred to as primordia or promeristems. 1969 Criddle & Schatz in Biochem. VIII. 323/2 Since the term ‘proplastid’ is well established‥, the mitochondria-like particles from anaerobic yeast cells were correspondingly termed ‘*promitochondria’. 1974 Nature 15 Mar. 258/2 Such mitochondria as yeast promitochondria do not contain all the carriers of the respiratory chain and possess an enhanced resistance to anaerobiosis. 1925 Strong & Elwyn Bailey's Textbk. Histol. (ed.7) vi. 142 The myelocytes are the most abundant developmental forms of marrow.‥ The most immature are known as *promyelocytes, the fully matured as metamyelocytes. 1957 L. K. Hillestad in Acta Medica Scand. CLIX. 189 This paper deals with three cases of a special type of acute myelogenous leukemia.‥ The white blood cell picture in the peripheral blood resembles that of the more chronic forms of leukemia, as it is dominated by promyelocytes and myelocytes with very few myeloblasts. A logical name for this type of leukemia is acute promyelocytic leukemia. 1973 Brit. Jrnl. Haematol. XXIV. 255 Acute promyelocytic leukaemia‥is now recognized as a distinct clinical and pathological entity, classically characterized by‥replacement of bone marrow by abnormal myeloblasts and promyelocytes. 1977 Lancet 15 Oct. 806/2 Cytoplasmic vacuolation, similar to that in erythroblasts, occurs in promyelocytes in the bone-marrow of alcoholics. 1895 D. Sharp in Camb. Nat. Hist. V. 164 The process of forming the various organs goes on in the *pronymph, till the ‘nymph’ has completed its development. Ibid., The *pronymphal state may be looked upon as being to a great extent a return of the animal to the condition of an egg. 1900 W. Heape in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sc. Nov. 6 *Pro-œstrum or the *Pro-œstrous Period‥I have adopted to describe the first phases of generative activity in the female mammal at the beginning of a sexual season. 1901 Brit. Med. Jrnl. No. 2097. 593 There is the ‘pro-œstrum’ (‘the coming in season’)‥characterised by‥a pro-œstrous discharge‥most usually of mucus. 1923 Amer. Jrnl. Anat. XXXII. 306 Through its action on *prooestrus and ovulation the corpus luteum indirectly inhibits those growth processes which are initiated by the maturing follicles. 1923 Proestrus [see metœstrus]. 1937 Nature 4 Dec. 950/1 It can no longer be affirmed that the proœstrus of the lower mammal corresponds simply to the menstrual flow of the human female. 1966, 1973 Proestrus, prooestrus [see metœstrus]. 1976 Sci. Amer. July 52/2 In the normal estrous cycle of the rat the pituitary secretes large amounts of luteinizing hormone‥in the afternoon of proestrus, approximately 30 hours after the initial increase in estradiol secretion by the ovaries. 1895 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Propeptone, also termed Hemialbumose, one of the intermediate products formed during the conversion of albumins into peptones in gastric digestion. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 292 The action of the gastric juice upon the albuminous constituents of the food is indicated by the presence of syntonin, propeptone and peptone. 1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. viii. 220 At the thickened edges of the gastrula, the primitive mouth-edge (*properistoma), the endoderm, and the exoderm pass into each other. 1922 L. F. Randolph in Bot. Gaz. LXXIII. 345 Since these bodies have been found to occur as a constant feature of the cytoplasm of meristematic cells in maize, and inasmuch as they have been found to be definitely concerned with the formation of chloroplasts, the term ‘*proplastid’ will be used for such bodies. 1934 L. W. Sharp Introd. Cytol. (ed. 3) iv. 69 The differentiated plastids seen in mature tissues may be traced back to plastid primordia, or proplastids in the young cells of the meristem or embryo. 1967 Kirk & Tilney-Bassett Plastids xiv. 497 It may be generally true that whenever a chloroplast-containing plant cell has to start dividing, the chloroplasts revert to proplastids to facilitate the plastid division that must take place if plastid numbers in the cell are to be maintained. 1895 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Propupa, that stage in insect development immediately preceding the pupa. 1898 Packard Textbk. Entomol. iii. 627 It passes into what Riley terms the pro-pupa, in which the wing-pads are present. 1888 Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. 169 The *pro-renal (segmental) duct; a conspicuous thick-walled tube seen, on either side, lying within the somatic mesoblast. 1895 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Proscolecine, belonging to a Proscolex. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life 250 Embryo or *proscolex of an ordinary Taenia, armed‥with six spines. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 233 That the proscolex may develope in an alimentary canal is proved by P. J. Van Beneden's discovery of proscolices with scolices in all stages of growth in the intestine of the Lump-fish. 1902 Bayliss & Starling in Jrnl. Physiol. XXVIII. 331 The distribution of ‘*prosecretin’, as we have proposed to call the mother-substance, corresponds‥precisely with the region from which acid introduced into the lumen excites secretion from the pancreas. 1935 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. CXII. 511 In this study we have‥attempted to obtain concrete evidence concerning the existence of prosecretin. 1962 R. A. Gregory Secretory Mech. Gastro-Intestinal Tract xii. 157 Bayliss & Starling originally supposed that it [sc. secretin] might exist in the form of an active precursor ‘prosecretin’ from which secretin was liberated by acid hydrolysis. This view was later abandoned. 1887 tr. De Bary's Fungi 163 When it [Polyphagus Euglenæ] has reached a certain size,‥it shows itself in many specimens to be a sporangium, or, if the term is preferred, a *prosporangium. Ibid. Explan. Terms 498 Prosporangium, in Chytridieæ: vesicular cell the protoplasm of which passes into an outgrowth of itself, the sporangium, and becomes divided into swarm-spores. 1945 M. F. Glaessner Princ. Micropalaeont. v. 108 The *protheca or primary wall consists of a layer of clear transparent calcite (diaphanotheca), and a thin dark outer rind-like film (tectum). 1963 K. A. Allen tr. Pokorny's Princ. Zool. Micropalaeont. I. vi. 236 In some of these forms [of Foraminifera] there is only a single undifferentiated layer, the protheca. 1933 G. N. Calkins Biol. Protozoa (ed. 2) iv. 135 The trichocysts at rest are capsules filled with a densely staining‥substance.‥ They appear to be connected with the silver line system and‥are here represented by granules when the trichocysts are undeveloped. In such granular form they are sometimes called ‘*protrichocysts’. 1965 Jrnl. Cell Biol. XXVII. 67 The structures containing the amorphous material are variously referred to as protrichocysts, mucoid trichocysts, mucigenic bodies, or secretory ampules. 1972 M. S. Gardiner Biol. Invertebrates xix. 850/2 Electron micrographs reveal that the stripes contain refringent granules, considered protrichocysts, which are‥blue in S[tentor] coeruleus, giving this species its beautiful color. 1900 Lancet 27 Oct. 1187/1 The pancreatic zymogen, trypsinogen or *protrypsin.
2. Of local position: forming ns. and adjs., chiefly anatomical and zoological terms (often correlated with words in meta-1 and meso-); (a) in adjectival relation to the second element, denoting either ‘an anterior or front (thing of the kind)’, or ‘an anterior or front part (of the thing)’; (b) in prepositional relation to the second element = ‘lying before or in front of (the thing)’.
pro-ˈatlas, Zool. [Atlas n.1 2] (see quots.); ‖procerebrum (-ˈsɛrɪbrəm), Anat., the front part of the cerebrum or brain; the fore-brain, prosencephalon; hence proˈcerebral a.; procnemial (-ˈkniːmɪəl) a., Anat. [Gr. κνήµη leg, tibia], situated in front of the tibia; proˈdelta a. and n. Geol., (the part of a delta) lying underneath and beyond the sloping front of a delta; so prodelˈtaic a.; ‖pro-epimeron (-ɛpɪˈmɪərən) Entom., the epimeron of the prothorax of an insect, the second sclerite of either propleuron; hence pro-epiˈmeral a.; ‖pro-epiˈsternum, Entom., the episternum of the prothorax, the anterior sclerite of either propleuron; hence pro-epiˈsternal a.; proˈfilmic a. Semiotics [ad. F. profilmique: cf. E. Souriau in Revue Internationale de Filmologie (1951) II. vii–viii], happening or situated in front of a camera; proˈneural a., of the first bone in a turtle's carapace, situated in front of the neural bones; also absol.; ‖pro-ˈosteon, Ornith. [Gr. ὀστέον bone], an ossification in each anterior lateral process of the sternum in certain birds; ‖propaˈrapteron Entom., the parapteron of the prothorax; hence propaˈrapteral a.; ‖proˈplexus (also anglicized ˈproplex) Anat., (a) Wilder's term for the choroid plexus of either of the lateral ventricles of the brain; (b) ‘the analogue in the Vertebrata generally of the brachial plexus in man’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); ‖pro-postscuˈtellum, ‖pro-præˈscutum Entom., the postscutellum and præscutum (respectively) of the prothorax of an insect; hence pro-postscuˈtellar, pro-præˈscutal adjs.; ‖propygidium (-paɪˈdʒɪdɪəm) Entom., the segment immediately in front of the pygidium in certain beetles; ‖proscapula (-ˈskæpjʊlə) Ichth., the outer bone of the scapular arch, usually passing forwards and articulating with its fellow of the opposite side, and supporting the cartilage or bone which bears the pectoral fin; hence proˈscapular a.; ‖proscutellum (-skjuːˈtɛləm), ‖proscutum (-ˈskjuːtəm) Entom., the scutellum and scutum (respectively) of the prothorax; hence proscuˈtellar, proˈscutal adjs.; ‖prozygaˈpophysis = prezygapophysis.
1886 Günther in Encycl. Brit. XX. 447/2 The first two vertebræ are differentiated as axis and atlas, and in front of the latter there may be [in Reptiles] a rudiment of another vertebra, which has been distinguished as the *proatlas. 1889 Nicholson & Lydekker Palæont. II. xlv. 897 It has been suggested that certain bony splints overlying the arch of the atlas in Crocodiles represent a vertebra intercalated between the latter and the cranium, for which the name proatlas has been proposed. It is, however, by no means proved that these splints do not belong to the atlas vertebra. 1895 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Procerebral, belonging to the Procerebrum. 1890 Billings Med. Dict., *Procerebrum, Prosencephalon. 1854 Owen Skel. & Teeth (1855) 64 The proximal end of the tibia‥: two ridges are extended from its upper and anterior surface: the strongest of these is the ‘*procnemial’ ridge. 1940 E. S. Hills Outl. Structural Geol. i. 4 The bottom~sets or *prodelta clays represent the finer detritus spread out over the floor of the sea or lake in which the delta was formed. 1963 D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation xi. 227 This bed is, perhaps, comparable to that formed on a prodelta. 1969 Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xiv. 319 The high percentage of silt in the clays has led to a comparison with some modern pro-delta sediments. 1975 Hobson & Tiratsoo Introd. Petroleum Geol. ii. 32 The sediments of the delta front, pro-delta and continental shelf are organically fairly rich. 1968 Murchison & Westoll Coal v. 89 The seaward advance of delta-fronts and *prodeltaic muds, silts and sands. 1974 Nature 8 Feb. 344/2 Interbedded sheets and lenses of moderately well sorted prodeltaic and littoral sands. 1895 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Proëpimeral, *Proëpimeron, *Proëpisternal, *Proëpisternum. 1973 P. Willemen in Screen Spring/Summer 13 *Profilmic events should be divided into signifying reality and into non-signifying reality (eg on one level, a city is a signifying reality, a mountain range is not). Ibid., In the cinema one ‘sections’ the profilmic reality. 1974 M. Taylor tr. Metz's Film Lang. iii. 33 That great artist‥manages to have beauty, which has been pitilessly rejected from every ‘profilmic’ occasion. 1952 A. Carr Handbk. Turtles i. 36 Along the mid-line twelve of the bones of the carapace are arranged in a row. In front is the *proneural bone (usually known as the nuchal). 1967 P. C. H. Pritchard Living Turtles of World 10 The foremost bone in the turtle shell‥is large; it is called the proneural or nuchal bone. Behind the proneural comes a midline row of eleven or fewer bones, called neurals. 1868 W. K. Parker Shoulder-Girdle Vertebr. (Ray Soc.) 144 In the genus Rhea‥there is, on each side, an osseous centre in front of the first rib: it ossifies the costal process, and, projecting forwards as a wing in front of the sternal ribs, may be called the ‘*pro-osteon’. 1896 Newton Dict. Birds 910 Thus in Rhea, Gallinæ, Turnix, Lestris and the Passeres, each anterior lateral process has its pro-osteon‥, but in many other forms‥these processes possess no special centre of ossification. 1882 Wilder & Gage Anat. Techn. 485 *Proplexus. 1899 D. Sharp in Camb. Nat. Hist. VI. 187 A similar plate anterior to the pygidium is called *propygidium. 1833 F. Walker in Entomol. Mag. I. 21 The semihyaline spots on the *proscutellum are much larger in this species. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 46 But in some Chameleons, a prominence is developed from each *prozygapophysis, which may be a metapophysis.