a. [ L. prostratus, p. p. of prosternere to prostrate; pro before, forward + sternere to spread out, throw down. See Stratum. ] 1. Lying at length, or with the body extended on the ground or other surface; stretched out; as, to sleep prostrate. Elyot. [ 1913 Webster ]

Groveling and prostrate on yon lake of fire. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lying at mercy, as a supplicant. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Lying in a humble, lowly, or suppliant posture. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prostrate fall
Before him reverent, and there confess
Humbly our faults. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Bot.) Trailing on the ground; procumbent. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Prostrated p. pr. & vb. n. Prostrating. ] 1. To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. to overthrow; to demolish; to destroy; to deprive of efficiency; to ruin; as, to prostrate a village; to prostrate a government; to prostrate law or justice. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To throw down, or cause to fall in humility or adoration; to cause to bow in humble reverence; used reflexively; as, he prostrated himself. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To cause to sink totally; to deprive of strength; to reduce; as, a person prostrated by fever. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. prostratio: cf. F. prostration. ] 1. The act of prostrating, throwing down, or laying fiat; as, the prostration of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of falling down, or of bowing in humility or adoration; primarily, the act of falling on the face, but usually applied to kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship. [ 1913 Webster ]

A greater prostration of reason than of body. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The condition of being prostrate; great depression; lowness; dejection; as, a postration of spirits. “A sudden prostration of strength.” Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Med.) A latent, not an exhausted, state of the vital energies; great oppression of natural strength and vigor. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Prostration, in its medical use, is analogous to the state of a spring lying under such a weight that it is incapable of action; while exhaustion is analogous to the state of a spring deprived of its elastic powers. The word, however, is often used to denote any great depression of the vital powers. [ 1913 Webster ]