prole

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹoʊl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

Etymology 1

From proletariat (“working class”) by shortening.

Noun

prole (plural proles)

1. (informal) A member of the proletariat; a proletarian.
2. (informal) A pleb (ordinary person).

Etymology 2

From prowl obsolete pronunciation (/pɹoʊl/), from Middle English prollen.

Verb

prole (third-person singular simple present proles, present participle proling, simple past and past participle proled)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To prowl; to proll.
   • 1652, Thomas Fitzherbert, chapter VIII, in A Treatise Concerning Policy and Religion, page 57:

     […] for he ordained, […] and that boyes and children ſhould have ſo little allowed them to eat, that they ſhould be forced to prole, and ſteal for their better proviſion, to make them thereby the more induſtrious, nimble, and quick of ſpirit, […]

   • 1766, Thomas Sadler, “The Peddlar. A Tale.”, in Poems on various subjects. To which is added, The merry miller: or, The country-man's ramble to London, a farce, page 116:

     But I will not ſuch Journies take, / To dig and prole in vain: / For was I to dig twenty Weeks, / Without might come again.

   • 1873, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, “"Some Innocents 'Scape Not The Thunderbol."” (chapter XLIV), in To the Bitter End, John Maxwell and Co., page 351:

     […] and Joseph went proling about after dark with his gun—and took and shot him!

   • 1903, George Carew, edited by Ernest George Atkinson, Calendar of the State Papers relating to Ireland, of the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. 1600 March-October, section 108, page 391:

     "This summer, by reason of continual employment abroad in service, not having leisure to prole for hawks, I cannot make that present unto you as I desired. […] ”

References

• "prole", in Guy Miege's A new dictionary French and English, 1677.

Anagrams

• Loper, lepro-, loper, poler

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin prōlēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpɾɔ.lə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpɾɔ.le]

Noun

prole f (plural proles)

1. offspring, issue, progeny

   Synonym: progenitura

Related terms

• proletari
• prolífer
• prolific

Further reading

• “prole” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin prōlēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɔ.le/
• Rhymes: -ɔle
• Hyphenation: prò‧le

Noun

prole f (plural proli)

1. offspring, issue, children

   senza prole ― childless

2. progeny, race, stock

Related terms

• proletario
• prolifico

Anagrams

• porle

Latin

Noun

prōle

1. ablative singular of prōlēs

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin prōlēs (“offspring”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɔ.li/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɔ.li/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɔ.le/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾɔ.lɨ/

• Hyphenation: pro‧le

Noun

prole f (plural proles)

1. progeny; offspring; brood

   Synonyms: progénie, descendência

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōlēs (“offspring”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾole/ [ˈpɾo.le]
• Rhymes: -ole
• Syllabification: pro‧le

Noun

prole f (plural proles)

1. progeny
2. offspring

   Synonym: vástago

Further reading

• “prole”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10