proof
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: pro͞of
ipa: /pɹuːf/
enpr: pro͞of
ipa: /pɹuf/
enpr: pro͞of
ipa: /pɹʉːf/
rhymes: -uːf
Forms: form: proofs
Etymology: From Middle English proof, from Old French prove, from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from Latin probō (“to prove”); see prove; compare also the doublet probe.
Senses: examples: text: I need proof of your unconditional love. Lend me some dough.
text: 1591, Edmund Spenser, Prosopopoia: or, Mother Hubbard's Tale, later also published in William Michael Rossetti, Humorous Poems,
But the false Fox most kindly played his part,
For whatsoever mother-wit or art
Could work he put in proof. No practice sly,
No counterpoint of cunning policy,
No reach, no breach, that might him profit bring.
But he the same did to his purpose wring.
text: France I more praise and love; you are, my lord,
Yourself for horsemanship much famed; and there
You shall have many proofs to shew your skill.
ref: c. 1633, John Ford, Love's Sacrifice, Act 1, Scene 1:
text: A given quantity of the spirits was poured upon a quantity of gunpowder in a dish and set on fire. If at the end of the combustion, the gunpowder continued dry enough, it took fire and exploded; but if it had been wetted by the water in the spirits, the flame of the alcohol went out without setting the powder on fire. This was called the proof.
ref: 1831, Thomas Thomson, A System of Chemistry of Inorganic Bodies, volume 2:
antonyms: disproof
glosses: An effort, process, or operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial.
examples: text: I'll have some proof.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: It was a grand sentence of Emanuel Swedenborg, which would alone indicate the greatness of that man's perception, — "It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases; but to be able to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false, this is the mark and character of intelligence."
ref: 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Over-Soul”, in Essays: First Series:
text: Faith, faith is an island in the setting sun
But proof, yes
Proof is the bottom line for everyone
ref: 1990 October 16, Paul Simon, “Proof”, in The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.:
synonyms: testament
glosses: The degree of evidence which convinces the mind of any truth or fact, and produces belief; a test by facts or arguments which induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration.
glosses: The quality or state of having been proved or tried; firmness or hardness which resists impression, or does not yield to force; impenetrability of physical bodies.
examples: text: But the chaste damzell, that had never priefe / Of such malengine and fine forgerye, / Did easely beleeve her strong extremitye.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: Experience of something.
glosses: Firmness of mind; stability not to be shaken.
examples: text: And these men scour the printed proof for error, blunder, and misspelling.
ref: 2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 382:
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: A proof sheet; a trial impression, as from type, taken for correction or examination.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
numismatics
glosses: A limited-run high-quality strike of a particular coin, originally as a test run, although nowadays mostly for collectors' sets.
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: A sequence of statements consisting of axioms, assumptions, statements already demonstrated in another proof, and statements that logically follow from previous statements in the sequence, and which concludes with a statement that is the object of the proof.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A process for testing the accuracy of an operation performed. Compare prove, transitive verb, 5.
examples: text: Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
glosses: Armour of excellent or tried quality, and deemed impenetrable; properly, armour of proof.
glosses: A measure of the alcohol content of liquor. Originally, in Britain, 100 proof was defined as 57.1% by volume (no longer used). In the US, 100 proof means that the alcohol content is 50% of the total volume of the liquid; thus, absolute alcohol would be 200 proof.
Hyponyms: artist's proof
conditional proof
devil's proof
India proof
judgement proof
negative proof
ontological proof
printer's proof
probabilistically checkable proof
proof leaf
proof of burn
proof-of-concept
proof of delivery
proof of purchase
proof of technology
proof-of-work
proof positive
proof-read
proof-reader
smoke proof
social proof
the proof is in the eating
the proof is in the pudding
working proof
zero-knowledge proof
Derived terms: above proof
burden of proof
counterproof
living proof
offer of proof
page proof
press proof
proof by contradiction
proof by example
proof by exhaustion
proof charge
proof house
prooflike
proof mark
proof of concept
proof of life
proof of stake
proof of work
proof plane
proof reader
proof sheet
proof spirit
proof system
subproof
the proof of the pudding is in the eating
Related terms: probe
prove