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prop
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prop
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
up
▪ There are no curtains to soften its edges and the pelmet is propped up by the bookcase.
▪ She lies on her back, her body propped up with pillows, fluids dripping through tubes into her veins.
▪ She remembered him propped up by the nurses, waving his little hands about.
▪ I hauled my bargain table outside and propped up the cardboard three-books-for-a-buck sign.
▪ Dennis and the others were propping up the bar, Karen was supposedly selecting duty-free perfume.
▪ They frequently can be seen perched on a rock and propped up on their ventral fins as if surveying their little world.
▪ Poorly managed and with low yields, it was propped up with a huge loan from the estate's trustees.
▪ Cathleen Schine propped up in bed.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ An old guitar lay propped against a wall.
▪ He propped his bicycle against the fence and ran inside.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Anushkia Smyslov had bandaged Alex Bannen's head, and the physicist was propped in a sitting position against a workstation.
▪ As soon as the infant Arthur was old enough to be propped against the proscenium arch, he was included in the turn.
▪ Duncan had left Myeloski propping up the bar, drinking his customary vodka and Budweiser chaser.
▪ Nurse Bells had propped him upright and he looked alert and interested.
▪ She remembered him propped up by the nurses, waving his little hands about.
▪ The President was propped up in bed.
▪ They prop up prices for growers by controlling production rather than through federal subsidies.
▪ They are trying to prop up the tumbling stockmarket by cutting the supply of new issues.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Low interest rates are the stock market's most important prop.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And Lewis was such a tremendous stage prop.
▪ Salford prop David Young has been appointed to lead the side in the absence of Davies.
▪ The clothes lines were taken down and rolled up by the dustbins, together with the props.
▪ The days of buying politicians and pimping ballot props are over because the public has wised up.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prop

Prop \Prop\, n. A shell, used as a die. See Props.

Prop

Prop \Prop\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Propped; p. pr. & vb. n. Propping.] [Akin to LG. & D. proppen to cram, stuff, thrust into, stop, G. pfropfen, Dan. proppe, Sw. proppa; of uncertain origin, cf. G. pfropfen to graft, fr. L. propago set, layer of a plant, slip, shoot. Cf. 3d. Prop, Propagate.] To support, or prevent from falling, by placing something under or against; as, to prop up a fence or an old building; (Fig.) to sustain; to maintain; as, to prop a declining state.
--Shak.

Till the bright mountains prop the incumbent sky.
--Pope.

For being not propp'd by ancestry.
--Shak.

I prop myself upon those few supports that are left me.
--Pope.

Prop

Prop \Prop\, n. [Akin to LG., D., & Dan. prop stopple, stopper, cork, Sw. propp, G. pfropf. See Prop, v.] That which sustains an incumbent weight; that on which anything rests or leans for support; a support; a stay; as, a prop for a building. ``Two props of virtue.''
--Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prop

"to support," mid-15c., probably from prop (n.1) or a related verb in Dutch. Related: Propped; propping.\n

prop

"support," mid-15c., from Middle Dutch proppe "vine prop, support," of unknown origin. Probably related to Old High German pfropfo, German pfropfen "to prop," perhaps from Latin propago "a set, layer of a plant" (see propagation). Irish propa, Gaelic prop are from English.

prop

"object used in a play," 1898, from props (1841), shortened form of properties (which was in theatrical use from early 15c.). Props as slang shortening for proper respects (or something similar) appeared c.1999.

prop

short for propeller, 1914.

Wiktionary
prop

Etymology 1 n. 1 An object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports. 2 (context rugby English) The player who is next to the hooker in a scrum. 3 One of the seashells in the game of props. vb. (context transitive English) To support or shore up something. Etymology 2

n. (context theater film English) An item placed on a stage or set to create a scene or scenario in which actors perform. Contraction of "property". Etymology 3

n. The propeller of an aircraft. Etymology 4

n. A proposition, especially on an election-day ballot.

WordNet
prop
  1. n. a support placed beneath or against something to keep it from shaking or falling

  2. any movable articles or objects used on the set of a play or movie; "before every scene he ran down his checklist of props" [syn: property]

  3. a propeller that rotates to push against air [syn: airplane propeller, airscrew]

  4. [also: propping, propped]

prop
  1. v. support by placing against something solid or rigid; "shore and buttress an old building" [syn: prop up, shore up, shore]

  2. [also: propping, propped]

Wikipedia
Prop (stage, screen)

A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct from the actors, scenery, costumes, and electrical equipment. Consumable food items appearing in the production are also considered props.

PROP

PROP can stand for:

  • 6-N- Propylthiouracil (or PROP), a thionamide either tasting very bitter or tasteless depending on genetic makeup
  • PRO (category theory), a strict monoidal category, in category theory
  • Propulsion Engineer (PROP), space shuttle flight control position
  • Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP), a UK prisoner's rights organisation set up in the early 1970s
ProP (transporter)

ProP is a bacterial membrane protein that is a member of the major facilitator superfamily. It functions as an osmosensory and osmoregulatory transporter, responding to changes in osmotic pressure by importing compatible solutes such as proline or glycine betaine; most substrates for ProP are zwitterions. The activity of ProP increases with osmotic pressure in cells and proteoliposomes. ProP is a symporter of hydrogen ions and compatible solutes, and is responsive to potassium concentrations.

Activity of ProP has been associated with the ability of pathogenic E. coli to colonize the urinary tract.

Usage examples of "prop".

Our alfresco performance was an impromptu affair, since we had no props, but we did well enough with silks and coins and such sketchy materials-as you know, real magicians can work under any circumstances.

And before she had any time to prepare herself for it, there they stood on the embankment, with the Grand Canal opening resplendently before them in gleaming amorphous blues and greens and olives and silvers, and the tottering palace fronts of marble and inlay leaning over to look at their faces in it, and the mooring poles, top-heavy, striped, lantern-headed, bristling outside the doorways in the cobalt-shadowed water, and the sudden bunches of piles propped together like drunks holding one another up outside an English pub after closing time.

The arsonist propped the detached pane against the wall carefully, well out of his way, and reached into the first tackle bag.

The fellow must have propped it, Asey decided, for it continued to glow down at the angle.

Oncus sat cross-legged on the main deck under the awning, between Yama and Captain Lorquital, who lay on her side, propped by bolsters and puffing calmly on her pipe.

Evidently getting on like matches in a paper shop, they were propping up the bar, chuckling about something in a blokey kind of way.

As Becky propped the front door wide, opened window transoms, and set about buffeting dust and tobacco smoke, Roger would take the milk and rolls back to the kitchen and give Bock a morning greeting.

Bernard Boulting was propped in bed, his face pared to the bone, his eyes bright and savage.

The prop bit air and pulled us slowly forward, bumping over the grass and shaking the plane.

All this great ever-increasing flood of bronze, brass, chrome, Fiberglas, lapstreak, teak, auto pilots, burgees, Power Squadron hats, nylon line, all this chugging winking blundering glitter of props, bilge pumps and self-importance needs dockside space.

Julian Clyve propped up his feet and creaked back in his old chair with his hands behind his head.

Blow a dozen jagged holes in it while the props eat hardware, and you will see a coleopter go bonkers.

Three cots down, Aggie was tying her hair in rag curlers, using a mirror propped on her cross-legged lap.

Probably the latter, propped up against the cruet while he ate his solitary dinner.

To break up the gang, TPI closed down the Pit, but that only sent the snerts in search of other places to roost - especially Grand Central, a surrealistic room where a train is crashing through a window, and the Dressing Room, where scripts enable users to exchange props and cybersex sometimes occurs.