Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To discontinue a session of (a parliament, for example).
  • transitive verb To postpone; defer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To prolong; protract.
  • To defer; put off; delay.
  • To discontinue meetings of for a time, usually for a period of time not expressly stated: used specifically of the British Parliament.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To protract; to prolong; to extend.
  • transitive verb To defer; to delay; to postpone
  • transitive verb To end the session of a parliament by an order of the sovereign, thus deferring its business.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb hold back to a later time
  • verb adjourn by royal prerogative; without dissolving the legislative body

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English prorogen, from Old French proroguer, to postpone, from Latin prōrogāre : pro-, forward; see pro– + rogāre, to ask; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin prōrogō ("prolong, defer")

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Examples

Comments

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  • C'est la mot du jour n'est-ce pas?

    December 6, 2008

  • see also procleric, profighter etc. ;P

    December 6, 2008

  • Career ruffian.

    December 6, 2008

  • Should this be shortened to prorog in AmE?

    December 9, 2008

  • I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer the "catalogue" spelling over "catalog." I never think of them as British vs. American spelling.

    Of course, I don't use prorogue as often as catalogue. :-)

    December 9, 2008

  • Lopping the -ue wouldn't work because the pronunciation would be affected: as with, say, 'intrigue' or 'vague'.

    December 9, 2008

  • "Turning up the deep astrachan collar of his long coat, the stranger swept out of the shop, with the air, as Miss Fritten afterwards described it, of a Satrap proroguing a Sanhedrin. Whether such a pleasant function ever fell to a Satrap's lot she was not quite certain, but the simile faithfully conveyed her meaning to a large circle of acquaintances."

    "Quail Seed" by Saki, in The Unrest-Cure and Other Stories (p 139 of the NYRB edition)

    October 14, 2013