prolong
verbUK /pɹəʊˈlɒŋ/ · US /pɹoʊˈlɑŋ/
Etymology Either a back-formation from prolongation, or from Old French prolonguer or porloignier, from Latin prōlongō, from prō + longō. Doublet of purloin.
1
To extend in space or length.
2
To lengthen in time; to extend the duration of.
- Complaining prolongs one’s pain.
- The departure was not unduly prolonged. In the road Mr. Love and the driver favoured the company with a brief chanty running. “Got it?—No, I ain't, 'old on,—Got it? Got it?—No, 'old on sir.”1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
3
To put off to a distant time; to postpone.
- The government shouldn't prolong deciding on this issue any further.
4
To become longer; lengthen.
- Derived terms
- prolongable, prolongate, prolongation, prolonger, prolongingly, prolongment