3. (Mus.) A mediÊval method of determining of the proportionate
duration of semibreves and minims. Busby.
||Pro*la"tum (?), n.; pl. Prolata (#). [ NL. See Prolate.] (Geom.) A
||prolate spheroid. See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.
Pro"leg (?), n. [Pref. pro- for, in place of + leg.] (Zoˆl.) One of the
fleshy legs found on the abdominal segments of the larvÊ of
Lepidoptera, sawflies, and some other insects. Those of Lepidoptera
have a circle of hooks. Called also proped, propleg, and falseleg.
Pro"leg`ate (?; 48), n. [L. prolegatus; pro for + legatus legate.]
(Rom. Hist.) The deputy or substitute for a legate.
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Prol`e*gom"e*na*ry (?), a. Of the nature of a prolegomenon;
preliminary; introductory; prefatory.
||Prol`e*gom"e*non (?), n.; pl. Prolegomena (#). [ NL., fr. Gr. &?;,
||properly neut. pass. p. pr. of &?; to say beforehand; &?; before +
||&?; to say.] A preliminary remark or observation; an introductory
||discourse prefixed to a book or treatise. D. Stokes (1659). Sir W.
||Scott.
||Pro*lep"sis (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;, from &?; to take beforehand;
||&?; before + &?; to take.]
1. (Rhet.) (a) A figure by which objections are anticipated or
prevented. Abp. Bramhall. (b) A necessary truth or assumption; a first
or assumed principle.
2. (Chron.) An error in chronology, consisting in an event being dated
before the actual time.
3. (Gram.) The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation,
or to denote the result, of the action of the verb; as, to strike one
dumb.
{ Pro*lep"tic (?), Pro*lep"tic*al (?), } a. [Gr. &?;: cf. F.
proleptique.]
1. Of or pertaining to prolepsis; anticipative. "A far-seeing or
proleptic wisdom." De Quincey.