prop

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any movable articles or objects used on the set of a play or movie

   Before every performance, the stage manager ran down a checklist of props.

2. 2
   noun

   An object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports.

   They stuck a block of wood under it as a prop.

3. 3
   verb

   To support or shore up something.

   Try using a phone book to prop up the table where the foot is missing.

4. 4
   verb

   To knock (a person) down.

   We used to go out into the roads (highway robbery) between races, and if we met an ‘old bloke’ (man) we ‘propped him’ (knocked him down), and robbed him.

5. 5
   noun

   An item placed on a stage or set to create a scene or scenario in which actors perform.

   They used the trophy as a prop in the movie.

6. 6
   noun

   An item placed within an advertisement in order to suggest a style of living etc.

   You can use props in a literal way to enhance the story, such as shooting a woodworker amidst woodworking tools.

7. 7
   noun

   A proposition, especially on an election-day ballot.

   John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at Berkeley, said that while he was not an insider on admissions practices, “my sense is that admissions is highly regulated and careful to stay clear of Prop 209 restrictions, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action.”

8. 8
   noun

   A blow; the act of striking someone.

   There was some good counter hits, and then Foster received a prop on the nose which drew the claret.

Etymology

From Middle English proppe (“a prop, support, support for a vine or plant”), from Middle Dutch proppe (“support, support for a vine, stopper for a bottle”). Compare Middle Low German proppe (“plug, stopper”), German Pfropfen (“plug”), Danish prop (“plug, stopper”).