probe

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See also: Probe, probé, and próbę

English

Etymology

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(deprecated template usage)

For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”).

For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.

Pronunciation

Noun

probe (plural probes)

  1. (surgery) Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc. [from 15th c.]
  2. (figuratively) Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information. [from 17th c.]
  3. An act of probing; a prod, a poke. [from 19th c.]
  4. (figuratively) An investigation or inquiry. [from 20th c.]
    They launched a probe into the cause of the accident.
  5. (aeronautics) A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling. [from 20th c.]
  6. (sciences) A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it. [from 20th c.]
    Insert the probe into the soil and read the temperature.
  7. (astronautics) A small, usually unmanned, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings. [from 20th c.]
  8. (go) a move with multiple answers seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy
  9. (biochemistry) Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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  1. (transitive, intransitive) To explore, investigate, or question
    If you probe further, you may discover different reasons.
    • (Can we date this quote by Hallam and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      the growing disposition to probe the legality of all acts of the crown
  2. (transitive) To insert a probe into.

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

German

Verb

probe

  1. (deprecated template usage) First-person singular present of proben.
  2. (deprecated template usage) First-person singular subjunctive I of proben.
  3. (deprecated template usage) Third-person singular subjunctive I of proben.
  4. (deprecated template usage) Imperative singular of proben.

Italian

Adjective

probe

  1. feminine plural of probo

Latin

Adverb

probē (comparative probius, superlative probissimē)

  1. well, rightly, properly, correctly, fitly, opportunely, excellently

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) probe

  1. vocative masculine singular of probus

References

  • “probe”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “probe”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • probe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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