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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prolong
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a long/prolonged spell
▪ We have just had a long spell of unusually dry weather.
a prolonged absence (=continuing for a long time)
▪ Requests for prolonged absence during term time are strongly discouraged.
extend/prolong your stay (=stay longer)
▪ He could not be persuaded to extend his stay.
prolonged/protracted (=very long)
▪ Despite protracted negotiations, the two sides have failed to reach agreement.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
agony
▪ There was no sense in prolonging the agony.
▪ She played her part to the end, grateful that Ace didn't seem keen on prolonging the agony.
▪ The last thing she wanted was to prolong the agony.
▪ Without prolonging the agony for them both any longer she got up and left the room.
▪ They are now 20 years older and must realise that to remain silent is to prolong the agony for Brian's parents.
▪ You said you'd wait till I came to you of my own free will; let's not prolong the agony any longer.
▪ In reality it can only serve to prolong their agony.
▪ Goodness knows I do not wish to prolong the agony, but I feel some clarity is needed.
life
▪ Confidence was increasing that men, through foresight and effective action, could ameliorate their existence and even prolong their lives.
▪ Berenson said the study was too brief to determine whether the drug might also prolong cancer sufferers' lives.
▪ This prolongs the life of the tent's built-in groundsheet. 4.
▪ Long-term studies on mortality showed that there was little evidence to believe that losing weight will prolong your life, either.
▪ This document asks doctors to avoid making strenuous efforts to prolong your life if the eventual outcome is known to be terminal.
▪ The president said curbing the addiction level would save money and prolong lives.
▪ It may be prolonging the snail's life.
▪ It also will discourage other members from seeking early diagnosis and the treatments that can prolong their lives.
period
▪ For Chelsea, then, a prolonged period of silence from their coach would be most welcome.
▪ If we want the aquarium to be decorative all year long we must prolong the light period during the winter.
▪ There are several factors which help to prolong this period to perhaps three or four times that in the male.
▪ Antibiotics must generally be used for a prolonged period or in repeated courses.
▪ Cold inhibits or prevents plant growth and slows down chemical processes in soils, prolonging the period of maturation.
▪ Like the political career of the man who envisioned it, the satellite may face a prolonged period in cold storage.
time
▪ In the present study the addition of increasing doses of egg lecithin to human and model biles progressively prolongs the nucleation time.
▪ He also bought the doctors' prescription for prolonging his time in football.
▪ Phospholipids, however, prolong the nucleation time.
▪ She couldn't think why - the last thing she wanted was to prolong her time in his company.
▪ Increasing amounts of egg lecithin progressively prolonged the nucleation time.
▪ Preoperative radiotherapy did not prolong the median survival time.
▪ In Fig. 6.10 deceleration can be initiated by prolonging the excitation time of phases A-B- for approximately two step intervals.
▪ Similar amounts of bile salts did not prolong the nucleation time.
war
▪ But it is time she addressed the ethnic issue which divides the country and prolongs the civil war.
■ VERB
want
▪ I've made it clear to Craig-Dunlop that the family doesn't want her life prolonged, for religious reasons.
▪ She wanted to prolong the company of her.
▪ The last thing she wanted was to prolong the agony.
▪ She couldn't think why - the last thing she wanted was to prolong her time in his company.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A heart transplant might prolong his life for a few years.
▪ Doctors say these drugs can reduce pain and prolong lives.
▪ He asked her another question just to prolong the conversation.
▪ It seems he's eager to prolong his trial for as long as possible.
▪ Users turn to the drug in the belief that it prolongs and enhances sex.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A recurring comment was that some patients deliberately prolong treatment.
▪ Bill loves this moment, but it is unkind to prolong it.
▪ He wasn't asking her because he wanted to discuss the station or prolong the more general conversation they had just shared.
▪ Interesting acts are prolonged or repeated.
▪ The prolonged competition could serve to enliven the debate.
▪ The high gas prices and long lines were prolonged by government interference in the private sector.
▪ The president said curbing the addiction level would save money and prolong lives.
▪ When the settlement was negotiated the Communists attempted to prolong the strike, but with limited success.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prolong

Prolong \Pro*long"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prolonged; p. pr. & vb. n. Prolonging.] [F. prolonger, L. prolongare; pro before, forth + longus long. See Long, a., and cf. Prolongate, Purloin. ]

  1. To extend in space or length; as, to prolong a line.

  2. To lengthen in time; to extend the duration of; to draw out; to continue; as, to prolong one's days.

    Prolong awhile the traitor's life.
    --Shak.

    The unhappy queen with talk prolonged the night.
    --Dryden.

  3. To put off to a distant time; to postpone.
    --Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prolong

early 15c., back-formation from prolongation or else from Old French prolonguer, porloignier (13c.), from Late Latin prolongare "to prolong, extend," from Latin pro- "forth" (see pro-) + longus "long" (adj.); see long (adj.). Related: Prolonged; prolonging; prolongable.

Wiktionary
prolong

vb. 1 (label en transitive) To extend in space or length. 2 (label en transitive) To lengthen in time; to extend the duration of; to draw out; to continue.

WordNet
prolong
  1. v. lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer; "We prolonged our stay"; "She extended her visit by another day"; "The meeting was drawn out until midnight" [syn: protract, extend, draw out]

  2. lengthen or extend in duration or space; "We sustained the diplomatic negociations as long as possible"; "prolong the treatment of the patient"; "keep up the good work" [syn: sustain, keep up]

Usage examples of "prolong".

The multigenerational ripple effect of prolonged illness, grieving, and accommodating overlap in the Megregian-Johannessen homes, as they do in so many families.

The prolonged stay of Bonaparte at Moscow can indeed be accounted for in no other way than by supposing that he expected the Russian Cabinet would change its opinion and consent to treat for peace.

In the cases following September 11, there was evidence that the anthrax spores had been specially treated so they would remain suspended in the air for prolonged periods, making them more likely to be inhaled because they could literally float out of an envelope.

However, there is a point at which prolonged use of the antitoxin could become .

The importance of prolonging the moistened condition as long as possible is further shown by special adaptations to retain water either between the appressed lobes of the leaves or in special pitcher-like sacs.

Such fistulas were caused by battering during childbirth, and were more common in very young girls, where the strain of prolonged labor often caused such tearsor in older women, where the tissues had grown less elastic.

They were belated revellers, and had been carelessly strolling under the pinky cloudlets bedward, after a prolonged carousal with the sons and daughters of hilarious nations, until the apparition of Virgin Luck on the wing shocked all prospect of a dead fight with the tables that day.

A cyclist needs his lung capacity the way he needs his legs, and prolonged exposure to bleomycin would almost certainly end my career.

On the contrary, there are reasons which compel belief that, in many instances, these vivisections implied the most horrible and prolonged torments that the practice of animal experimentation has ever been permitted to evoke.

And after you have performed them you will not understand that they were expiatory any more than you have understood all the other expiation that has kept you in such prolonged humiliation.

But neither their beauty nor their impatience had the least effect with the waiter, who prolonged the dinner at his pleasure, and alarmed the Marches with the misgiving that they should not have time for the final palace on their list.

Stavely and her CSM were aggressively opposed to American approval of Montayne, arguing that the drug might be unsafe and should be given more prolonged testing.

If I cannot send disease into families, and murrain among the herds, can I attain the same end so well as by prolonging the lives of those who can serve the purpose of destruction as effectually?

Miss Overmore had often said to her in reference to any fear that her mother might resent her prolonged detention.

But the engineer desired to know how and where the overplus of the water from the lake escaped, and the exploration was prolonged under the trees for a mile and a half towards the north.