n. (Politics) the lowest level of the proletariat, comprising unskilled workers, the unemployed, and the dispossessed, alienated from the class with with they would normally identify and having little or no class solidarity; -- an important element in Marxist theory. [ PJC ]

n. [ Pref. pro- for, in place of + leg. ] (Zool.) One of the fleshy legs found on the abdominal segments of the larvæ of Lepidoptera, sawflies, and some other insects. Those of Lepidoptera have a circle of hooks. Called also proped, propleg, and falseleg. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. prolegatus; pro for + legatus legate. ] (Rom. Hist.) The deputy or substitute for a legate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of the nature of a prolegomenon; preliminary; introductory; prefatory. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Prolegomena [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;, properly neut. pass. p. pr. of &unr_; to say beforehand; &unr_; before + &unr_; to say. ] A preliminary remark or observation; an introductory discourse prefixed to a book or treatise. D. Stokes (1659). Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., fr. Gr. &unr_;, from &unr_; to take beforehand; &unr_; before + &unr_; to take. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Rhet.) (a) A figure by which objections are anticipated or prevented. Abp. Bramhall. (b) A necessary truth or assumption; a first or assumed principle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chron.) An error in chronology, consisting in an event being dated before the actual time. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) The application of an adjective to a noun in anticipation, or to denote the result, of the action of the verb; as, to strike one dumb. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. proleptique. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Of or pertaining to prolepsis; anticipative. “A far-seeing or proleptic wisdom.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Previous; antecedent. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Med.) Anticipating the usual time; -- applied to a periodical disease whose paroxysms return at an earlier hour at every repetition. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a proleptical manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) The art and science of predicting in medicine. Laycock. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. See Proletary. ] One of the common people; a low person; also, the common people as a class or estate in a country. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. proletaneus. ] Having a numerous offspring. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. proletarius. See Proletary. ] Of or pertaining to the proletaries; belonging to the commonalty; hence, mean; vile; vulgar. “Every citizen, if he were not a proletarian animal kept at the public cost.” De Quincey. -- n. A proletary. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] The indigent class in the State; the body of proletarians. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The lower classes; beggars. “The Italian proletariate.” J. A. Symonds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Proletaries [ L. proletarius, fr. proles offspring. Cf. Prolétaire. ] (Rom. Antiq.) A citizen of the lowest class, who served the state, not with property, but only by having children; hence, a common person. [ 1913 Webster ]