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prop

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English has several words spelled prop; the dictionaries give separate entries to the old word for a support, the theatre prop shortened from property, and the prop shortened from propeller.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

  • UK: /pɹɒp/[5]
  • US: /pɹɑp/, /pɹɒp/[5]

prop1 support

Etymology

The noun is probably borrowed from Middle Dutch proppe (“vine prop, support”),[1][2][6][7][8] a word of uncertain origin.[1][2] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com relate it to the Middle Dutch and Middle Low German proppe, a stopper,[3][9] and Hoad notes that the Middle Low German plug and the Old High German graft are alike in form, though the differences in meaning make the link difficult.[8] The OED, in its 2007 revision, calls the origin uncertain: the Dutch proppe "vine prop" is first recorded only in 1599, in Kiliaan's dictionary, which may itself reflect the English word.[4] Etymonline and Klein connect it with pfropfo (“shoot, graft”), from Latin propāgō (“a set, layer of a plant”),[2][10] but the OED rejects any link with the German word.[4] The verb, first recorded in 1456, is apparently formed on the noun,[4][1] perhaps with help from a Dutch verb.[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stick, pole, stake or beam used to support something or hold it in place: 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum, an English–Latin dictionary.[4][1] Etymonline dates it to the mid 15th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that a prop is usually something that does not form part of the thing it holds up.[2] In Scotland a prop was a pole or a cairn marking a boundary (1450), and the verb's first recorded sense, also Scottish, was to mark out a boundary with props (1456).[4] The figurative noun, a person or thing that gives support, is recorded from 1562,[4] and Johnson (1755) quotes Shakespeare's "the very staff of my age, my very prop".[11] The verb meant to hold up with a prop from 1507, and to support a weak or failing cause from 1549,[4][2] usually as prop up.[4] Later uses include a timber holding up the roof of a mine (1613), legs or arms in slang (1817), and in rugby either of the two front-row forwards beside the hooker (1950).[4][12] In Australia a horse that props stops suddenly when going at speed (1844), and the noun followed for such a stop (1880).[4][13]

Timeline

  • 1440 – a stick, pole or beam used as a support.[4][1]
  • 1450 – (Scotland) a pole or cairn used as a boundary marker.[4]
  • 1456 – verb, to mark a boundary with props (Scotland).[4][1]
  • 1507 – verb, to hold up with a prop.[4][3]
  • 1549 – verb, to support a failing cause.[4]
  • 1562 – a person or thing that gives support.[4]
  • 1613 – a pit prop in a mine.[4]
  • 1817 – (slang) a leg or an arm.[4]
  • 1844 – verb, of a horse, to stop suddenly (Australia).[4]
  • 1950 – (rugby) a front-row forward.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A pole, beam or other rigid object used to hold something up or keep it in position: They used a plank as a prop for the sagging fence.
  2. A person or thing that gives help or moral support: Her faith was the main prop of her old age.
  3. (rugby) Either of the two forwards at the ends of the front row of a scrum.

Verb

  1. To support something, or keep it from falling, with a prop; often with up: He propped up the shelf with a brick.
  2. To lean something against a support: She propped her bike against the railings.
  3. To keep a weak or failing person, cause or business going; usually prop up.
  4. (Australia, New Zealand) Of a horse or person, to stop suddenly.

Word family

  • propper

prop2 theatre property

Etymology

It is a shortening of property in its theatrical sense, at first used only in the plural form props.[4][1][2][3] Barnhart treats the singular as a back-formation from that plural.[1] The plural properties had been used in the theatre since the 15th century in Etymonline's account;[2] Barnhart's first date for it is 1578.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Stage properties, in the plural props: 1841, in the American paper Spirit of the Times.[4][1][3] The singular is recorded from 1911.[4][1] Etymonline dates the singular to 1898.[2]

Semantic evolution

In colloquial use props also became the title of the person in charge of the properties in a theatre (1877), and later the department responsible for them (1976).[4] From 1898 the word was extended to any accessory or object used for effect,[4] and Merriam-Webster includes any article used to create a realistic effect in a performance, an exhibit or a story.[3]

Timeline

  • 1841 – props, stage properties.[4][1]
  • 1877 – props, the person in charge of properties.[4]
  • 1898 – props, accessories in general.[4]
  • 1911 – singular prop, a stage property.[4][1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An object used by actors in a play or film, such as a piece of furniture or a weapon: The sword in the duel scene was only a wooden prop.
  2. Any object used to create an effect or to support an act or image: The photographer used an old bicycle as a prop.

prop3 propeller

Etymology

It is a shortening of propeller.[4][1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A propeller, especially on an aircraft: 1914, in the magazine Flight.[4][1][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that since the 1940s the word has formed compounds for aircraft engines driving a propeller, such as prop-fan, prop-jet and turboprop.[1]

Timeline

  • 1914 – a propeller, especially of an aircraft.[4][1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (informal) A propeller, especially one on an aircraft.

Word family

  • turboprop
  • property
  • propeller

Usage notes

The OED also has rarer words of the same spelling: a plug or stopper (1513, from Dutch or Middle Low German), a shortening of proposition (1607), a seashell used in a gambling game (1830, of unknown origin) and, in slang, a tiepin (1850, in Dickens).[4] Green's Dictionary of Slang records the tiepin sense from 1840,[12] and in Shetland dialect prop meant a cork or bung.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)