prorogue

English

WOTD – 8 April 2008

Etymology

From Old French proroger, proroguer, from Latin prōrogō (“prolong, defer”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹə(ʊ)ˈɹəʊɡ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈɹoʊɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊɡ

Verb

prorogue (third-person singular simple present prorogues, present participle proroguing, simple past and past participle prorogued)

1. (transitive) To suspend (a parliamentary session) or to discontinue the meetings of (an assembly, parliament etc.) without formally ending the session. [from 15th c.]

   Coordinate terms: adjourn, dissolve

   • 2019 October, Dan Harvey, “HS2 costs rise as schedule slips”, in Modern Railways, page 9:

     On 9 September, when Parliament was prorogued until 14 October [later reversed by the Supreme Court], spelling the end of 12 pieces of legislation, it emerged that the High Speed Rail (West Midlands-Crewe) Bill was one of only three bills which will be carried over into the new parliamentary session.

2. (transitive, now rare) To defer. [from 15th c.]
3. (obsolete) To prolong or extend. [15th–18th c.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv:

     Mirth […] prorogues life, whets the wit, makes the body young, lively, and fit for any manner of employment.

   • 1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 20, in Friday's Business‎^[1]:

     The King settled to prorogue Parliament until the Christmas holidays, and to do nothing else for the present.

Synonyms

• (to defer): defer, postpone
• (to prolong): extend, prolong, protract

Derived terms

• prorogate
• prorogation
• prorogator
• proroguement

 

Translations

to suspend a parliamentary session

• Dutch: verdagen (nl), opschorten (nl), schorsen (nl)
• French: proroger (fr)
• German: vertagen (de)
• Italian: prorogare (it)
• Polish: odroczyć (pl) pf, odraczać (pl) impf
• Spanish: prorrogar (es)

to defer

• Dutch: uitstellen (nl), opschuiven (nl)
• German: verschieben (de), aufschieben (de)
• Polish: odłożyć (pl) pf, wstrzymać (pl) pf

to prolong or extend

• Dutch: verlengen (nl), ouitbreiden
• French: proroger (fr)
• German: verlängern (de)
• Portuguese: prorrogar (pt)
• Spanish: prorrogar (es)

References

• Prorogation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “prorogue”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.