3. (Diplomacy) (a) A preliminary document upon the basis of which
negotiations are carried on. (b) A convention not formally ratified.
(c) An agreement of diplomatists indicating the results reached by them
at a particular stage of a negotiation.
Pro"to*col, v. t. To make a protocol of.
Pro"to*col, v. i. To make or write protocols, or first draughts; to
issue protocols. Carlyle.
Pro"to*col`ist, n. One who draughts protocols.
Pro"to*conch (?), n. [Proto- + conch.] (Zoˆl.) The embryonic shell, or
first chamber, of ammonites and other cephalopods.
Pro`to-Dor*ic (?), a. [Proto- + Doric.] (Arch.) Pertaining to, or
designating, architecture, in which the beginnings of the Doric style
are supposed to be found.
Pro"to*gine (?), n. [Proto- + root of Gr. &?; to be born: cf. F.
protogyne.] (Min.) A kind of granite or gneiss containing a silvery
talcose mineral.
Pro*tog"y*nous (?), a. [Proto + Gr. gynh` a woman.] (Bot.) Same as
Proterogynous.
||Pro`to*hip"pus (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; first + &?; horse.]
||(Paleon.) A genus of fossil horses from the Lower Pliocene. They had
||three toes on each foot, the lateral ones being small.
Pro"to*mar`tyr (?), n. [LL., fr. Gr. &?;; &?; first + &?; martyr: cf.
F. protomartyr. See Proto- , and Martyr.] The first martyr; the first
who suffers, or is sacrificed, in any cause; -- applied esp. to
Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Pro`to*mer"ite (?), n. [Proto- + -mere + -ite.] (Zoˆl.) The second
segment of one of the GregarinÊ.
Pro`to*mor"phic (?), a. [Proto- + Gr. &?; form.] (Biol.) Having the
most primitive character; in the earliest form; as, a protomorphic
layer of tissue. H. Spencer.
||Pro`to*ne"ma (?), n.; pl. Protonemata (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; first +
||&?;, &?;, a thread.] (Bot.) The primary growth from the spore of a
||moss, usually consisting of branching confervoid filaments, on any
||part of which stem and leaf buds may be developed.
Pro*ton"o*ta*ry (?), n. Same as Prothonotary.
Pro`to*ˆr"gan*ism (?), n. [Proto- + organism.] (Biol.) An organism
whose nature is so difficult to determine that it might be referred to
either the animal or the vegetable kingdom.
||Pro`to*pap"as (&?;), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; a chief priest.] (Gr. Ch.)
||A protopope.
Pro"to*phyte (?), n. [Proto- + Gr. &?; a plant.] (Bot.) Any unicellular
plant, or plant forming only a plasmodium, having reproduction only by
fission, gemmation, or cell division.
The protophytes (Protophyta) are by some botanists considered an
independent branch or class of the vegetable kingdom, and made to
include the lowest forms of both fungi and algÊ, as slime molds,
Bacteria, the nostocs, etc. Cf. Carpophyte, and Oˆphyte.
Pro`to*phy*tol"o*gy (?), n. [Proto- + phytology.] Paleobotany.
Pro"to*pine (?), n. [Proto- + opium.] (Chem.) An alkaloid found in
opium in small quantities, and extracted as a white crystalline
substance.
Pro"to*plasm (?), n. [Proto- + Gr. &?; form, fr. &?; to mold.] (Biol.)
The viscid and more or less granular material of vegetable and animal
cells, possessed of vital properties by which the processes of
nutrition, secretion, and growth go forward; the so-called " physical
basis of life;" the original cell substance, cytoplasm, cytoblastema,
bioplasm sarcode, etc.
The lowest forms of animal and vegetable life (unicellular organisms)
consist of simple or unaltered protoplasm; the tissues of the higher
organisms, of differentiated protoplasm.
Pro`to*plas*mat"ic (?), a. Protoplasmic.
Pro`to*plas"mic (?), a. 1. Of or pertaining to the first formation of
living bodies.
2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to protoplasm; consisting of, or
resembling, protoplasm.
Pro"to*plast (?), n. [L. protoplastus the first man, Gr. &?; formed or
created first; &?; first + &?; formed, fr. &?; to form.]
1. The thing first formed; that of which there are subsequent copies or
reproductions; the original.
2. (Biol.) A first-formed organized body; the first individual, or pair
of individuals, of a species.
A species is a class of individuals, each of which is
hypothetically considered to be the descendant of the same
protoplast, or of the same pair of protoplasts.
Latham.
||Pro`to*plas"ta (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoˆl.) A division of fresh-water
||rhizopods including those that have a soft body and delicate branched
||pseudopodia. The genus Gromia is one of the best-known.
Pro`to*plas"tic (?), a. First- formed. Howell.
Pro*top"o*dite (?), n. [Proto- + Gr. &?;, &?;, foot.] (Zoˆl.) The basal
portion, or two proximal and more or less consolidated segments, of an
appendage of a crustacean.
Pro"to*pope (?), n. [Proto- + pope: cf. F. protopope, Russ. protopop'.]
(Gr. Ch.) One of the clergy of first rank in the lower order of secular
clergy; an archpriest; -- called also protopapas.
||Pro*top"te*rus (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; first + &?; a feather
||(taken to mean, fin).] (Zoˆl.) See Komtok.
Pro"to*salt (?), n. [Proto- + salt.] (Chem.) A salt derived from a
protoxide base. [Obs.]
Pro`to*sil"i*cate (?), n. [Proto- + silicate.] (Chem.) A silicate
formed with the lowest proportion of silicic acid, or having but one
atom of silicon in the molecule.
Pro`to*so"mite (?), n. [Proto- + somite.] (Zoˆl.) One of the primitive
segments, or metameres, of an animal.
Pro`to*sul"phide (?), n. [Proto- + sulphide.] (Chem.) That one of a
series of sulphides of any element which has the lowest proportion of
sulphur; a sulphide with but one atom of sulphur in the molecule.
Pro`to*sul"phu*ret (?), n. [Proto- + sulphuret.] (Chem.) A
protosulphide. [Obs.]
||Pro`to*the"ri*a (?), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. prw^tos first + qhri`on,
||dim. of qh`r beast.] (Zoˆl.) Same as Monotremata.
||Pro`to*tra`che*a"ta (?), n. pl. [NL. See Proto-, and Trachea.]
||(Zoˆl.) Same as Malacopoda.
Pro"to*type (?), n. [F., from L. prototypus original, primitive, Gr.
&?;, &?;; &?; first + &?; type, model. See Proto-, and Type] An
original or model after which anything is copied; the pattern of
anything to be engraved, or otherwise copied, cast, or the like; a
primary form; exemplar; archetype.
They will turn their backs on it, like their great precursor and
prototype.
Burke.
Pro`to*ver"te*bra (?), n.; pl. ProtovertebrÊ . [Proto- + vertebra.]
(Anat.) One of the primitive masses, or segments, into which the
mesoblast of the vertebrate embryo breaks up on either side of the
anterior part of the notochord; a mesoblastic, or protovertebral,
somite. See Illust. of Ectoderm.
The protovertebrÊ were long regarded as rudiments of the permanent
vertebrÊ, but they are now known to give rise to the dorsal muscles and
other structures as well as the vertebral column. See Myotome.
Pro`to*ver"te*bral (?), a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the
protovertebrÊ.
Pro*tox"ide (?), n. [Proto- + oxide: cf. F. protoxide.] (Chem.) That
one of a series of oxides having the lowest proportion of oxygen. See
Proto-, 2 (b).
protoxide of nitrogen, laughing gas, now called hyponitrous oxide. See
under Laughing.
Pro*tox"i*dize (?), v. t. (Chem.) To combine with oxygen, as any
elementary substance, in such proportion as to form a protoxide.
||Pro`to*zo"a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; first + &?; an animal.]
||(Zoˆl.) The lowest of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom.
The entire animal consists of a single cell which is variously
modified; but in many species a number of these simple zooids are
united together so as to form a compound body or organism, as in the
Foraminifera and VorticellÊ. The reproduction takes place by fission,
or by the breaking up of the contents of the body after encystment,
each portion becoming a distinct animal, or in other ways, but never by
true eggs. The principal divisions are Rhizopoda, GregarinÊ, and
Infusoria. See also Foraminifera, Heliozoa, Protoplasta, Radiolaria,
Flagellata, Ciliata.
Pro`to*zo"an (?), a. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the Protozoa. -- n.
One of the Protozoa.
Pro`to*zo"ic (?), a. 1. (Zoˆl.) Of or pertaining to the Protozoa.
2. (Geol.) Containing remains of the earliest discovered life of the
globe, which included mollusks, radiates and protozoans.
||Pro`to*zo"ˆn (-n), n.; pl. Protozoa (#). [NL.] (Zoˆl.) (a) One of the
||Protozoa. (b) A single zooid of a compound protozoan.
Pro`to*zo"ˆ*nite (?), n. (Zoˆl.) One of the primary, or first-formed,
segments of an embryonic arthropod.
||Pro*tra`che*a"ta (?), n. pl. [NL. See Pro-, and Trachea.] (Zoˆl.)
||Same as Malacopoda.
<! p. 1154 !>
Pro*tract" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Protracted; p. pr. vb. n.
Protracting.] [L. protractus, p. p. of protrahere to forth, protract;
pro forward + trahere to draw. See Portrait, Portray.] 1. To draw out
or lengthen in time or (rarely) in space; to continue; to prolong; as,
to protract an argument; to protract a war.
2. To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer; as, to protract a
decision or duty. Shak.
3. (Surv.) To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of,
with scale and protractor; to plot.
4. (Zoˆl.) To extend; to protrude; as, the cat can protract its claws;
-- opposed to retract.
Pro*tract", n. [L. protractus.] Tedious continuance or delay. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Pro*tract`ed (?), a. Prolonged; continued.
Protracted meeting,a religious meeting continued for many successive
days. [U. S.]
-- Pro*tract"ed*ly, adv. -- Pro*tract"ed*ness, n.
Pro*tract"er (?), n. A protractor.
Pro*tract"ile (?), a. Capable of being protracted, or protruded;
protrusile.
Pro*trac"tion (?), n. [L. protractio.] 1. A drawing out, or continuing;
the act of delaying the termination of a thing; prolongation;
continuance; delay; as, the protraction of a debate.
A protraction only of what is worst in life.
Mallock.
2. (Surv.) (a) The act or process of making a plot on paper. (b) A plot
on paper.
Pro*tract"ive (?), a. Drawing out or lengthening in time; prolonging;
continuing; delaying.
He suffered their protractive arts.
Dryden.
Pro*tract"or (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, protracts, or causes
protraction.
2. A mathematical instrument for laying down and measuring angles on
paper, used in drawing or in plotting. It is of various forms,
semicircular, rectangular, or circular.
3. (Surg.) An instrument formerly used in extracting foreign or
offensive matter from a wound.
4. (Anat.) A muscle which extends an organ or part; -- opposed to
retractor.