prose (proz)

and a. [ versus ( ver su-), a turning, a line, verse): see verse. element vers- is thus contained, though in different applications, in both verse and prose. Cf. Gr. πεζός λόγος οι πεζὴ λέξις, L. pedestris ora tio, prose, lit. 'speech afoot' ' (not 'mounted' or elevated).] I. n. 1. The ordinary written or spoken language of man; language not con The formed to poetical measure, as opposed to verse or metrical composition. See poetry. "Sire, at o word, thou shalt no lenger ryme."... "I wol yow telle a litel thyng in prose That oghte liken yow, as I suppose." Chaucer, Prol. to Tale of Melibeus, 1. 19. prose Prompt eloquence Flow'd from their lips, in prose or numerous verse. Milton, P. L., v. 149. Well, on the whole, plain prose must be my fate:... I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at school. Pope , Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 198. Prose , however fervid and emotional it may become, must always be directed, or seem to be directed, by the reins of logic. Encyc . Brit ., XIX. 261. Hence-2. Commonplace ideas or discourse. Good rich.-3. In liturgies, a hymn sung after the gradual, originating from a practice of setting words to the jubilatio of the alleluia. Such hymns were originally either in the vernacular or in rimed Latin, with rhythms depending, as in modern verse, upon the accent: hence they were called prosæ, proses, in distinction from versus, verses, this latter term being applied only to poetry written in meters depending on quantity as in the ancient cla ic poets. See sequence. Hymns or proses full of idolatry. Harmar, tr. of Beza (1587), p. 267. On all higher festivals, besides this sequence, the rhythm called the prose, which generally consisted of between twenty and thirty verses, was likewise chanted. Rock , Church of our Fathers, III. ii. 21. 41. An oration; a story. Whethur long, othir littull, list me not tell, Ffor no mynd is there made in our mene bokes, Ne noght put in our proses by poiettes of old. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 9075. II. a . Relating to or consisting of prose; prosaic; not poetic; hence, plain; commonplace. Thackeray . and the dull Long fellow , Hyper i on, ii. 7. prose (prōz), v .; pret. and pp. prosed , ppr. pros ing . [ prosen ; prose , n .] I. trans . To write or compose in prose: as, a fable prosed or versified. There you have the poetic reverie, prose commentary. But alle shul pa e that men prose or ryme; Take every man hys turn as for his tyme. Chaucer, Scogan, 1. 41. And if ye winna mak' it clink, By Jove I'll prose it! II. in trans. 1. It was found. Burns , Second Epistle to Lapraik. To write or compose in prose. that whether ought was impos'd me by them that had the overlooking, or betak'n to of mine own choise in English or other tongue, prosing or versing, but chiefly this latter, the stile by certain vital signes it had was likely to live. Milton , Church-Government, ii., Int. "To prose" is now to talk or to write heavily, tediously, without spirit and without animation; but "to prose " was once the antithesis of to versify, and "proser" of a writer in metre. Trench , Select Glo ary. 2. To write or speak in a dull or tedious man ner. When much he speaks, he finds that ears are closed, And certain signs inform him when he's prosed . Crabbe , Works, 11. 158. "My very good sir," said the little quarto, yawning most drearily in my face, "excuse my interrupting you, but I perceive you are rather given to prose ." Irving , Sketch-Book, p. 168. ، The wither'd Mi es! how they prose O'er books of travell'd seamen. Tennyson , Amphion.