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prospect

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Prospect

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English prospecte, from Latin prōspectus (“view, sight, prospect; panorama”), from prōspiciō (“to look forward”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns), from pro (“before, forward”) + speciō, spiciō (“to look, to see”).[1] By surface analysis, pro- +‎ -spect. Doublet of prospectus and prospekt. The verb is from the noun.[2]

Noun

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prospect (plural prospects)

  1. The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 543–552:
      As when a Scout […] Obtains the brow of ſome high-climbing Hill, / Which to his eye diſcovers unaware / The goodly proſpect of ſome forein land / Firſt-ſeen, or ſome renownd Metropolis / With gliſtering Spires and Pinnacles adornd, / Which now the Riſing Sun guilds with his beams.
  2. A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
    • 1649 June 20, John Evelyn, edited by William Bray, John Evelyn's Diary, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, published 1850, page 251:
      I went to Putney, and other places on the Thames, to take prospects in crayon, to carry into France, where I thought to have them engraved.
    • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 6:
      She felt all the honest pride and complacency which her alliance with the present and future proprietor could fairly warrant, as she viewed the respectable size and style of the building, its suitable, becoming, characteristic situation, low and sheltered—its ample gardens stretching down to meadows washed by a stream, of which the Abbey, with all the old neglect of prospect, had scarcely a sight ...
    • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
      The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead.
  3. A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 77–79:
      Him God beholding from his proſpect high, / Wherein paſt, preſent, future he beholds, / Thus to his onely Son forſeeing ſpake.
  4. Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
  5. The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
    • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
      a very ill prospect of a future state
    • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious:
      Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life?
  6. The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
    Synonym: outcome
    • 1788, James Hutton, Theory of the earth, page 166:
      The result, therefore, of this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,— no prospect of an end.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
    • 1960 March, “The Channel Tunnel Scheme”, in Railway Magazine, page 148:
      Prospects for the construction of a Channel tunnel now appear to be brighter than they have been for some time.
    • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:
      And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier.
    • 2013 June 7, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19:
      It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.
  7. A hope; a hopeful.
  8. (sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
  9. (sales) A potential client or customer.
  10. (music) The façade of an organ.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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prospect (third-person singular simple present prospects, present participle prospecting, simple past and past participle prospected)

  1. (intransitive) To search, as for gold.
    • 1904, M. A. Stein, “A Journey of Geographical and Archaeological Exploration in Chinese Turkestan”, in Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1903‎[1], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, pages 762–763:
      Among the ancient sites in the Taklamakan Desert which are frequented by Khotan "treasure seekers," and which the prospecting parties sent out by me had visited, none seemed to offer better opportunities for systematic excavations than the one known to them as Dandan-Uilik.
  2. (geology, mining) To determine which minerals or metals are present in a location.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Learned borrowing from Latin prōspectō.[3]

Verb

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prospect (third-person singular simple present prospects, present participle prospecting, simple past and past participle prospected)
(obsolete)

  1. (intransitive) To have or afford a view; to face or look out.
    • 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Seuenth Booke of the Seconde Decade of the Supposed Continente”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 2nd decade, folio 79, verso:
      This poynte ſemethe as though it woolde inuade the monte Atlas in Aphrica. Foꝛ it pꝛoſpectethe [translating spectat] towarde that parte of Aphꝛike, whiche the poꝛtugales caule Caput Bonæ Sperantiæ.
    • 1567, [Matteo Bandello], translated by Geffraie Fenton, “The Villennie of an Abbot in Sekinge to Seduce a Mayde by Force and Her Vertue in Defendyng Her Honor against Him and His Companyons of Traison”, in Certaine Tragicall Discourses […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC, folio 124, verso:
      All men, whoſe experience by trauaile is a wytnes of the ſingularities of Italye, and ſpaine, are of opinion I am ſewer, that naples, is one of yͤ moſt riche pleaſante and Populus cities in evrope, bothe foꝛ the beautie and fartilitie of the countreye rounde aboute, the magnifical plat and ſcituacion of the towne, pꝛoſpectinge with open caſementes, vppon the heyghte of the highe ſea Tyrenũ, […]
    • 1605, W. Salustius, Lord of Bartas [i.e., Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas], “[The Second Weeke: or Childhood of the World. […]] The Handie-Crafts. The Fourth Booke, of the First Day, of the Second Weeke.”, in Iosuah Syluester, transl., Bartas His Deuine Weekes & Workes […], London: […] Humfrey Lownes […], →OCLC, page 364:
      Like Carpenters, within a VVood they chooſe / Sixteene faire Trees that neuer leaues doe looſe, / VVhoſe equall front in quadran forme proſpected, / As if of purpoſe Nature them erected: […]
    • 1613, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] Of the Kingdome of China.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. […], London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of the Armenians, Medes, Persians, Parthians, Scythians, Tartarians, Chinois, and of Their Religions), page 367:
      Their houſes are low, without the ornament of porches, galleries, windowes, and proſpect into the ſtreets.
  2. (transitive) To look or face towards; to view.
    • 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], translated by Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 3rd decade, folio 140, verso:
      Beynge therfoꝛe ioyfull and gladde of the frendeſhyppe of owre men, he tooke the capitaine by the hand and bꝛought him with certeine of his familiars to the higheſt towre of his palaice, from whenſe they myght proſpecte [translating dispectare] the mayne ſea.
    • 1578, Iohn Banister, “[…] Of Bones, the Frame of the Body.”, in The Historie of Man, […], London: […] Iohn Daye, […], →OCLC, folio 19, verso:
      […] [Andreas] Veſalius no leſſe taketh part agaynſt him, openyng the window of light, on the clearer ſide, pꝛoſpecting the Sunne, as manifeſtly appeareth by that is gone befoꝛe.
    • 1579, [Francesco] Guicciardin, translated by Geffray Fenton, “The Syxt Booke of the Historie and Discourse of Guicciardin”, in The Historie of Guicciardin, Conteining the Warres of Italie and Other Partes, […], London: […] Thomas Vautroullier […], →OCLC, page 301:
      In this meane while Peter of Nauarro made certein cloaſe or couered Barks, with the which approaching in more ſuertie the walles of the Egg Caſtle, he caſt a mine on that ſide which proſpects Pizifalcona, […]
    • 1698, John Fryer, “Takes a View of Goa; Makes a Voyage to Vingula; Engages with the Malabars, and Returns Us to Carwar”, in A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight Letters. Being Nine Years Travels, Begun 1672. And Finished 1681. […], London: […] R[obert] R[oberts] for Ri[chard] Chiswell, letter IV (A Relation of the Canatick-Country), page 150:
      The College of Carmelites is on an high Mount, proſpecting the whole City, it is a fine Building; […]

References

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  1. ^ “prospect, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “prospect, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  3. ^ “prospect, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German Prospekt.

Noun

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prospect n (plural prospecte)

  1. brochure

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative prospect prospectul prospecte prospectele
genitive-dative prospect prospectului prospecte prospectelor
vocative prospectule prospectelor
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