Pros"trate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prostrated (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Prostrating.] 1. To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to
prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants. Evelyn.
2. to overthrow; to demolish; to destroy; to deprive of efficiency; to
ruin; as, to prostrate a village; to prostrate a government; to
prostrate law or justice.
3. To throw down, or cause to fall in humility or adoration; to cause
to bow in humble reverence; used reflexively; as, he prostrated
himself. Milman.
4. To cause to sink totally; to deprive of strength; to reduce; as, a
person prostrated by fever.
Pros*tra"tion (?), n. [L. prostratio: cf. F. prostration.] 1. The act
of prostrating, throwing down, or laying fiat; as, the prostration of
the body.
2. The act of falling down, or of bowing in humility or adoration;
primarily, the act of falling on the face, but usually applied to
kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship.
A greater prostration of reason than of body.
Shak.
3. The condition of being prostrate; great depression; lowness;
dejection; as, a postration of spirits. "A sudden prostration of
strength." Arbuthnot.
4. (Med.) A latent, not an exhausted, state of the vital energies;
great oppression of natural strength and vigor.
Prostration, in its medical use, is analogous to the state of a spring
lying under such a weight that it is incapable of action; while
exhaustion is analogous to the state of a spring deprived of its
elastic powers. The word, however, is often used to denote any great
depression of the vital powers.
Pro"style (?), a. [L. prostylus, Gr. &?;; &?; before + &?; pillar,
column: cf. F. prostyle.] (Arch.) Having columns in front. -- n. A
prostyle portico or building.