prop Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a support placed beneath or against something to keep it from shaking or falling
  2. noun any movable articles or objects used on the set of a play or movie
    property.
    • before every scene he ran down his checklist of props
  3. noun a propeller that rotates to push against air
    airscrew; airplane propeller.
  4. verb support by placing against something solid or rigid
    shore up; prop up; shore.
    • shore and buttress an old building

WordNet

Prop noun
Definitions
  1. A shell, used as a die. See Props.
Prop transitive verb
Etymology
Akin to LG. & D. proppen to cram, stuff, thrust into, stop, G. pfropfen, Dan. proppe, Sw. proppa; of uncertain origin, cf. G. pfropfen to graft, fr. L. propago set, layer of a plant, slip, shoot. Cf. 3d. Prop, Propagate.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Propped ; present participle & verbal noun Propping
Definitions
  1. To support, or prevent from falling, by placing something under or against; as, to prop up a fence or an old building; (Fig.) to sustain; to maintain; as, to prop a declining state. Shak.
    Till the bright mountains prop the incumbent sky. Pope.
    For being not propp'd by ancestry. Shak.
    I prop myself upon those few supports that are left me. Pope.
Prop noun
Etymology
Akin to LG., D., & Dan. prop stopple, stopper, cork, Sw. propp, G. pfropf. See Prop, v.
Definitions
  1. That which sustains an incumbent weight; that on which anything rests or leans for support; a support; a stay; as, a prop for a building. "Two props of virtue." Shak.

Webster 1913