*SET-U

Chambers (1908)

Prose

Read this edition’s complete source entry.

Englishe-38699-4318Historical source · not a reviewed *SET-U verdictRead the source ↗

This edition’s origin note

[Fr.,—L. prosa—prorsus, straightforward—pro, forward, vertĕre, versum, to turn.]

Original source wording, not an independently verified *SET-U conclusion.

The complete extracted entry

e-38699-4318

Historical source text, not a reviewed *SET-U analysis. Claims and terminology belong to this edition.

Prose, prōz, n. the direct, straightforward arrangement of words, free from poetical measures: ordinary spoken and written language: all writings not in verse.—adj. pertaining to prose: not poetical: plain: dull.—v.i. to write prose: to speak or write tediously.—v.t. to compose in prose.—ns. Prose′-man, Prō′ser, Prose′-writ′er, a writer of prose.—adv. Prō′sily, in a prosy manner: tediously.—ns. Prō′siness, the state or quality of being prosy; Prō′sing, speaking or writing in a dull or prosy way.—adj. Prō′sy, dull, tedious. [Fr.,—L. prosa—prorsus, straightforward—pro, forward, vertĕre, versum, to turn.]

Source locator ebook:38699;section:dictionary;paragraph:4337;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:1674059-1675172

Where interpretation must slow down

  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
  • Historical text may contain offensive, obsolete or inaccurate language and classifications.
  • Public-domain determination applies to the United States; other jurisdictions require separate confirmation.
  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

This page does not invent a manuscript attestation, a sound-change sequence, a modern scholarly verdict or a complete ancestor tree. Missing detail is a limit of this source record, not necessarily a limit of scholarship.

Find other records with this spelling →

Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

The full extracted entry is rendered as plain text. Formatting and navigation are added by *SET-U; source wording is not silently rewritten as new analysis.

Coverage: the complete A–Z main-entry clusters and dictionary Addenda. Derivative words remain within their original entry clusters. Non-dictionary appendices and standalone illustrations are excluded.

Original entry or artifact ↗Source edition and credits ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source audit fields
Source locator
ebook:38699;section:dictionary;paragraph:4337;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:1674059-1675172
Source record SHA-256
dda4f4c1f8d3a9b6c05d18cf40ae1636c1d7b6d99179268fa99ecb8f4657d950
Records SHA-256
fe553f4cc08e11f2f222d5bd4706ae9585f8951c8374a3edc0fcc03264dbbea9
Published snapshot
00f489ccce5cccc78b796c10de36f4f0d18709073434ccf9285eb201d4ac39ca
Acquired
2026-11-05T09:16:04.758Z · acquisition date, not first attestation
Parser
chambers-1908-1
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,407,997 bytes555d2991c0d7cc611a61c79935db172efe6bb5becb074253788d90dafd0b6b08
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,773,892 bytes912196a924c239e3ccc550bbb1f8515ce77bbd271ebf777b27fc468174ac32f8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 2,804,092 bytes4a647fbb3ce598efbe36554cdc02b070b3f5edf5ba2e41fcd36328f18a26c4e8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 4,392,053 bytes222c6725b7618cc03250863a64cce04c859c3378caa03b347376611c0668b33d
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac