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▪ I. prose, n.|prəʊz|
Also 6 proese, proase, Sc. pross, prois.
[a. F. prose (13th c. in Littré), ad. L. prōsa (ōrātio), lit. straightforward discourse, n. use of fem. of prōs-us, for earlier prors-us adj. straightforward, straight, direct, contr. from prōvers-us, pa. pple. of prōvert-ĕre to turn forwards. Hence med.L. prōsa an accentual hymn, in which the prose pronunciation and order is used.]
1. a. The ordinary form of written or spoken language, without metrical structure; esp. as a species or division of literature. Opposed to poetry, verse, rime, or metre.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 10975 But ffrensche men wryten hit in prose, Right as he dide, hym for to alose. c1386Chaucer Melib. Prol. 19 Gladly quod I by goddes sweete pyne I wol yow telle a litel thyng in prose. 1483Caxton Cato 3 Two partyes—the fyrst is in prose and the second in verse. 1575Laneham Let. (1817) 15 The thing which heer I report in vnpolisht proez, waz thear pronounced in good meeter and matter. 1596Dalyrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 468 Monie vther thingis baith in prois and verse he wrote. 1667Milton P.L. i. 16 Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 31 July, I..will..continue the rest of my account in plain prose. 1800Wordsw. Lyr. Ball. (ed. 2) Pref. note, Much confusion has been introduced into criticism by this contradistinction of Poetry and Prose... The only strict antithesis to Prose is Metre. 1833Coleridge Table-t. 3 July, The definition of good prose is—proper words in their proper places. 1880M. Arnold Ess. Crit., Stud. Poet. (1888) 39 The needful qualities for a fit prose are regularity, uniformity, precision, balance.
b. with a and pl. A piece of prose, as opp. to a poem; a composition in prose; a prose exercise. Now rare or Obs. exc. in school or college use.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. (Arb.) 184 The Greekes vsed a manner of speech or writing in their proses, that went by clauses, finishing the words of like tune. 1646J. Hall Poems i. 5 Gently to amble in a York-shire prose. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xix. viii. V. 607 New Verses or light Proses. 1901Punch 9 Jan. 20/1 When my tutor fond supposes I am writing Latin proses.
¶c. In ME., A (prose) story or narrative.
(The pl. was app. sometimes confounded with proses, proces, process n. 4; this being, as in F., sing. and pl.)
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 6357 He fond her bokes bothe two..In siker proses and no romaunce. c1400Destr. Troy 11523 All the pepull in þat presse, þat the prose herd, Afermyt hit as fyn þat þe freike said. a1400–50Alexander 2062 And slike a pas, sais þe prose, to Persy he ridis. Ibid. 2397 A croune all of clere gold, clustrid with gemmes, Of fyfty ponde with þe payse, as þe prose tellis.
2. Eccl. A piece of rhythmical prose or rimed accentual verse, sung or said between the epistle and gospel at certain masses: also called a sequence.
Called prōsa in Latin in distinction from versus applied to the ancient quantitative metres: see P. Wagner Introd. Gregorian Melodies (Eng. transl. 234, etc.).
c1449Pecock Repr. (Rolls) 201 Also in the prose clepid a sequence which is sungun in the Feeste of the Cross is Hiȝing, aftir that manye spechis there ben mad to the cros. 1486Rec. St. Mary at Hill 16 Euery persone..syngyng a Respond of Seynte Stephen with the prose therto. 1561T. Norton tr. Calvin's Inst. iii. xx. (1634) 427 In all their Letanies, Hymnes, and Proses, where no honour is left ungiven to dead Saints, there is no mention of Christ. 1822K. Digby Broadst. Hon. iii. (1848) 90 The stanzas of the new worship proposed as more worthy of God than the ancient proses of the Church. 1882Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. III. 465 In the Middle Ages it [Sequence] was called a Prose; because, though written for the most part in rhymed Latin..the cadence of its syllables was governed, not as in classical Poetry, by quantity, but by accent—a peculiarity which deprived it of all claim to consideration as Verse of any kind. 1885Cath. Dict., Sequence, In the revision of the Roman Missal in the sixteenth century, only four sequences were retained: ‘Victimæ Paschali’.., ‘Veni, Sancte Spiritus’.., ‘Lauda, Sion’.., the ‘Dies Iræ’... A fifth prose, ‘Stabat Mater’..must have been added very recently, since neither Le Brun nor Benedict XIV. recognise it.
†b. Hence, in prose is used in the following instances app., as = in rimed, as opposed to quantitative verse. Obs.
1486Surtees Misc. (1888) 54 Which shall salute the king wt wordes folowing in prose... Most reverend, rightwose regent of this rigalitie, Whos primative patrone I peyre to your presence [rimes citie..prehemynence.]. Ibid. 55 Saying the wordes folowing unto the king in prose..Most prudent prince of pruved prevision [etc.].
3. fig. (from 1). Plain, simple, matter-of-fact, (and hence) dull or commonplace expression, quality, spirit, etc. (The opposite of poetry 5.)
1561T. Norton tr. Calvin's Inst. i. 18 For the plaine prose hereof is to cleare to be subject to any cauillations at all. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. ii. Pref., Wks. 1851 III. 143 Sitting here below in the cool element of prose. 1742Young Nt. Th. iv. 645 That Prose of Piety, a lukewarm Praise. 1876Lowell Ode 4th July iii. iii, To see things as they are, or shall be soon, In the frank prose of undissembling noon. 1900‘Sarah Grand’ Babs xv, Mrs. Normanton was a broad embodiment of the prose and commonplace of her class.
4. a. A dull, commonplace, or wearisome discourse or piece of writing; a prosy discourse. Also, a dull, prosy person. colloq.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 175/2 Mr. Guillims had not needed to have used such a long prose. 1813Byron in Daily News (1899) 29 June 6/1, I have sent you a long prose. I hope your answer will be equal in length. 1840J. H. Newman Lett. (1891) II. 300 All this is a miserable prose. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxvii. 439, I verily believe you have said that fifty thousand times, in my hearing. What a Prose you are! 1897Life & Lett. B. Jowett I. v. 129 He received many a ‘prose’ from Jowett on the philosophy of law and on the various questions of the hour.
b. Old colloq. Familiar talk, chat, gossip; a talk.
1805Mrs. Creevey in C. Papers, etc. (1904) I. 68, I had a great deal of comfortable prose with her. 1807Earl Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. III. 385 Long prose with the Duke of Portland till one in the morning. 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss., Pross, talk, conversation—rather of the gossiping kind. ‘Let us have a bit of pross.’ 1848R. D. Hampden in Some Mem. (1871) 162 She does not forget the long friendly proses that you have had together, and she longs to have another talk-out with you.
5. attrib. (often hyphened to the following word).
a. Consisting of, composed or written in prose.
(In this and the following, substituted for prosaic 1.)
1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 254 Which after the manner of my familiar prose-satir I presume to criticize. 1718Pope Let. to Dk. Buckhm. 1 Sept., There had been a very elegant Prose-translation before. 1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. 23 In verse or prose, or in verse-text aided by prose-comment. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xi. 206 Here we have..the prose account. 1875Lowell Spenser Wks. 1890 IV. 322 Bunyan..is the Ulysses of his own prose-epic.
b. Composing or writing in prose.
1668Dryden Evening's Love iii. i, The prose-wits playing, and the verse-wits rooking. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 235 Poets and prose-authors in every kind. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 172 In..First Principles we have a kind of prose Lucretius.
c. fig. Having the character of prose; plain, matter-of-fact, commonplace: = prosaic 2.
1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets viii. (1870) 194 Poets are not ideal beings; but have their prose-sides. 1864Webster s.v., The prose duties of life. 1905Q. Rev. Oct. 485 For the poet the aesthetic value of the Gospels is independent of their prose-truth.
6. Comb., as prose book, prose work; prose-inditing n. and adj., prose-like adj.; prose fiction, the genre of fictional narratives written in prose; † prose-master, a master of prose, one who excels in prose composition; prose-poem, a prose work having the style or character of a poem; so prose-poet, prose-poetry; † prose-printer, a printer of prose (in quot. = prose author); prose sense, the meaning of a poem as it can be paraphrased in prose; prose style, characteristic manner of writing in prose; prose-writer, one who writes or composes prose, an author who writes in prose; so prose-writing.
1940Dylan Thomas Let. 13 May (1966) 248, I do not want to write another straight *prosebook yet.
1382Wyclif Job Prol., The litle distinccioun that leueth with *prose enditing is wouen.
1841*Prose-fiction [see perfect a. 4 a]. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. I. ii. xiv. 467 The most successful writer of prose fiction (Scott). 1919V. Woolf in Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Apr. 189/2 It is for..[the historian of literature] to ascertain whether we are now at the beginning, or middle, or end, of a great period of prose fiction. 1957Encycl. Brit. XVI. 573/2 Dickens, perhaps the most remarkable genius in the history of English prose fiction.
1742P. Francis tr. Horace's Art P. 138 For Telephus or Peleus..must complain In *prose-like Style.
1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Pol. Touchstone (1674) 270 *Prose-Master Major to his Majestie.
1842Poe in Graham's Mag. Jan. 69/1 Criticism is not..an essay, nor a sermon, nor an oration,..nor a *prose-poem. 1850C. Kingsley Alton Locke I. ix. 139 That great prose poem, the single epic of modern days, Thomas Carlyle's ‘French Revolution’. 1906Daily Chron. 15 Jan. 3/4 The so-called prose-poem is very rarely attempted.
1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 162 They have vulgarly pass'd for a sort of *prose-poets. 1860Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. cxiii. 42/2 The prose-poet Bunyan's ‘Holy War’.
1887Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. ii. 41 Sidney commits himself..to the pestilent heresy of *prose-poetry, saying that verse is ‘only an ornament of poetry’.
1581Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 68 Peculier to Versifiers, and..not..among *Prose-printers.
1947C. Brooks Well Wrought Urn xi. 182 The ‘*prose-sense’ of the poem is not a rack on which the stuff of the poem is hung.
1852Thackeray Esmond III. iii. 88 His [sc. Addison's] *prose style I think is altogether inimitable. 1906R. Brooke Let. 10 May (1968) 51 This effort has..worked..havoc in my carefully elaborated prose-style. 1959G. D. Painter Proust I. viii. 115 His [sc. Proust's] prose style was..faded and artificial. 1976N. Freeling Lake Isle xiii. 120 Someone, presumably..has been phoning somebody. A prefect to judge from the prose style.
c1827Mill Speech in Adelphi (1924) I. 692 The very small number of good *prose works which have been published for many years past, except indeed novels. 1934J. Joyce Let. 1 June (1966) III. 306, I work every day alone at my big long wide high deep dense prosework. 1978W. White Whitman's Daybks. & Notebks. I. p. xxiii, Every name of a person, place, book, poem, prose work, or a ‘situation’ in Whitman's life and times that seemed to me to call for annotation, I have annotated.
1611Whitaker in Coryat's Crudities Panegyr. Verses d v, The most peerelesse Poeticall *Prose-writer. 1697Dryden Virg., Ess. Georg. (1721) I. 202 Where the Prose-writer tells us plainly what ought to be done, the Poet often conceals the Precept in a Description. 1847Grote Greece ii. xxix. IV. 130 The philosopher Pherekydês of Syros, about 550 b.c., is called by some the earliest prose-writer.
1769R. Wood Ess. Homer 60 It is allowed on all hands, that *Prose writing was unknown in Greece, till long after the Poet's time. 1787Sir J. Hawkins Johnson 255 A taste in morals, in poetry, and prose-writing.
▪ II. prose, v.|prəʊz|
[f. prec. n.; cf. F. proser (a 1613 in Littré) to turn into or write in prose.]
1. trans. To express, compose, or write in prose; to translate or turn into prose.
c1393Chaucer Scogan 41 Al schal passyn þat men prose or ryme. c1450J. Shirley in B.M. Addit. MS. 16,165 lf. 4 Boicius de consolacione prosed in Englische by Chaucier. 1785Burns 2nd Ep. to J. Lapraik vi, An' if ye winna mak it clink, By Jove I'll prose it! 1893Jacobs More Eng. Fairy T. (1894) p. viii, I have had no scruple in prosing a ballad or softening down over-abundant dialect.
b. intr. To compose or write prose. Also to prose it.
1805Southey in Robberds Mem. W. Taylor II. 77, I am prosing, not altogether against my will. 1812Combe Picturesque i. (Chandos) 7 I'll prose it here, I'll verse it there, And picturesque it every where. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 378 I've rhymed, I've prosed..In short done everything.
2. intr. To discourse in a prosy manner; to talk or write prosily; old colloq. and dial. to converse familiarly, chat, gossip.
1797Tweddell Rem. xxxii. (1815) 171 The time that you and I, my good Mother, used to prose over the parlour-fire, till you drove me away to bed. 1813Moore Post-bag, etc. (ed. 2) 48 To wait till the Irish affairs were decided—That is, till both houses had prosed and divided. 1819Keats Otho i. ii. 189 Pray, do not prose, good Ethelbert, but speak What is your purpose. 1879A. Lang in Academy 11 Jan. 25/1 That mythical stage of man's existence when he was eternally prosing about the weather. 1885F. E. Trollope in Graphic 21 Feb. 190/1, I won't keep you here prosing with me.
b. trans. with adv. or phr. To bring into some specified condition by prosing; to talk or lecture into or to (some state).
1825R. H. Froude in Rem. (1838) I. 178, I think I must come to you to be prosed and put into a better way. 1883F. M. Peard Contrad. II. 192 In spite of my having prosed you to death. 1897Ker Epic & Rom. 275 The important things of the story may be made to come with the stroke and flash of present reality, instead of being prosed away by the historian. |