PROTRACT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Protract

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/proʊtrˈækt/ /prˈoʊtrækt/ Listen

verb

Protract v. t. (past & past part. protracted; pres. part. protracting)

To draw out or lengthen in time or (rarely) in space; to continue; to prolong; as, to protract an argument; to protract a war.

To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer; as, to protract a decision or duty.

(Surv.) To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot.

(Zool.) To extend; to protrude; as, the cat can protract its claws; opposed to retract.

noun

Protract n. Tedious continuance or delay. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Protract'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Protract" Quotes from Famous Books

... him. This man and his companions, with some of the admirals men, went out to hunt goats for the use of the ships, but finding that it would require much time to kill all he had need of, and being anxious to proceed on his voyage, the admiral would not protract his ...

— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr

... as at Blair, the ducal hosts seem to have entirely succeeded in making Burns feel at ease, and wish to protract his visit. But here, too, more emphatically than at Blair, his friend spoilt the game. This is the account of the incident, as given by Lockhart, with a ...

— Robert Burns • Principal Shairp

... enclose the angle. Lastly look for that distance (which is the chord of the angle) in the annexed table, where the corresponding number of degrees will be found, where the corresponding number of degrees will be found. If it be desired to protract a given angle, the same operation is to be performed in a converse sense. I need hardly mention that the chord of an angle is the same thing as twice the sine of half that angle; but as tables of natural sines are not now-a-days commonly to be met with, ...

— The Art of Travel - Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries • Francis Galton

... before, fought with the instinctive fierceness of panthers in the deepening twilight darkened by the trees. The delicate-handed gentleman was a match for the workman in everything but strength, and Arthur's skill enabled him to protract the struggle for some long moments. But between unarmed men the battle is to the strong, where the strong is no blunderer, and Arthur must sink under a well-planted blow of Adam's as a steel rod is broken by an iron ...

— Adam Bede • George Eliot

... affair by giving the princess in marriage to another. To embarrass matters still more, she next proposed to James a match with the sister of the king of Navarre, a princess much older than himself, destitute of fortune, and whose brother might be influenced to protract the negotiation to any length convenient to his valuable ally the queen of England. This proposal being declined by James, and overtures made in his name to a younger daughter of the Danish house, she again set her engines at work to thwart his wishes: but ...

— Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth • Lucy Aikin

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