protrude

English edit

Two figures protruding from a wall

Etymology edit

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /pɹəˈtɹuːd/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -uːd

Verb edit

protrude (third-person singular simple present protrudes, present participle protruding, simple past and past participle protruded)

(intransitive) To extend from, above or beyond a surface or boundary; to bulge outward; to stick out.
- 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter V, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
  The old woman's face was wrinkled; her two remaining teeth protruded over her under lip; and her eyes were bright and piercing.
- 1939 April 14, John Steinbeck, chapter 20, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC; Compass Books edition, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1967, →OCLC, [https://archive.org/details/grapesofwrath00stei 272/mode/1up page 272]:
  […] from his hip pocket protruded a notebook with metal covers.
- 1939 July, “Overseas Railways: Baltic Island Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 49:
  On the Visby-Västerhejde Railway there is a steam car. […] The upperworks consist of a short clerestory coach body with end platforms and the engine chimney protruding from the roof like a stovepipe.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 5:
  Archegonia are surrounded early in their development by the juvenile perianth, through the slender beak of which the elongated neck of the fertilized archegonium protrudes.
(transitive) To cause to extend from a surface or boundary; to cause to stick out.
- 1695, Richard Blackmore, “Book IX”, in Prince Arthur. An Heroick Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchil […], →OCLC, page 267:
  With thoſe that ſtretcht along the Weſtern Coaſt; / To whom the old Creonian Towns were loſt, / Where high Epidium midſt th' Hibernian Waves, / Protrudes his Head, and all their Monſters braves.
- 1781, Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Wales‎^[1], volume 2, London, page 303:
  Before me soared the great promontory of PENMAEN MAWR, protruding itself into the sea […]
1. (transitive) To thrust out, as through a narrow orifice or from confinement; to cause to come forth.
  - 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
    He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting gems, / Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful gale / Into his freshen'd soul; […]
  - 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXVII, in Middlemarch […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please specify |book=I to VIII):
    Mr. Hawley's disgust at the notion of the "Pioneer" being edited by an emissary, and of Brooke becoming actively political—as if a tortoise of desultory pursuits should protrude its small head ambitiously and become rampant—was hardly equal to the annoyance felt by some members of Mr. Brooke's own family.
  - 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter II, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC:
    Then […] I perceived something stir. I made a run for this, but before I reached it a brown object separated itself, rose on two muddy legs and protruded two drooping, bleeding hands.
  - 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter X, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001:
    The man protruded the tip of a white tongue, licked the place where his lips should have been, and then passed on.
(transitive, obsolete) To thrust forward; to drive or force along.
- 1566, William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure, London: Richard Tottell and William Jones, Volume 1, The .xlj. Nouell,^[2]
  […] ye people standyng round about […] cried out, incontinently for the deliuerie of the Ladie, & for vengeaunce to be taken of hym, whiche so wickedly had protruded her into that daunger:
- 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Right and Left Hand”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 4th book, page 163:
  […] Palſies doe oftneſt happen upon the left ſide, if underſtood in this ſense; the moſt vigorous part protecting it ſelf, and protruding the matter upon the weaker and leſſe reſiſtive ſide.
- 1655, Hamon L’Estrange, The Reign of King Charles, London: Edward Dod and Henry Seile, p. 169,^[3]
  For in case of general disturbance, nothing is more familiar then for several Factions, of several, and sometimes of contrary inclinations and interests, to protrude and drive on one and the same design, to several intents and purposes.
- 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter IV, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book II, page 50:
  Of pure Space then, and Solidity, there are several (amongst which, I confess my self one) who persuade themselves, they have clear and distinct Ideas; and that they can think on Space, without any thing in it, that resists, or is protruded by Body; […]