▪ I. prut, int. and n.
(prʌt)
Also 4 tprut, 8 prute.
[Echoic, repr. a slight explosive sound, as of breaking wind.]
1. An exclamation of contempt.
| c 1300 in Langtoft Chron. (MS. Fairfax 22, lf. 4), Tprut! Skot riveling, In unsel timing crope thu out of cage. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3014 And seyþ ‘prut for þy cursyng, prest!’ a 1779 D. Graham Janet Clinker's Orat. Writ. 1883 II. 150 If they had tell'd me tuts, or prute no, I laid them o'er my knee, and a com'd crack for crack o'er their hurdies. 1870 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. viii. 282 From pr, or prut, indicating contempt. |
2. The sound of a rifle shot.
| 1898 Blackw. Mag. Dec. 837/2 To the prut of the magazine rifles was added the under chorus of the clicking mechanism. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 2 Jan. 2/1 Time passed; the fight, short anyhow, dwindled to prut..prut..prut-prut..prut. |
▪ II. prut, prute
obs. forms of proud.