▪ I. ˈpronate, ppl. a. rare.
[ad. late L. prōnāt-us, pa. pple. of prōnāre: see next.]
Bent into a prone position; bent forward and downward.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. vi. (1856) 47 Such turf, where the tree growths of more favored regions have become pronate and vine-like. 1938 S. Beckett Murphy ii. 24 He raised his left hand..and seated it pronate on the crown of his skull. |
▪ II. pronate, v. Physiol.
(ˈprəʊneɪt)
[f. late L. prōnāt-, ppl. stem of prōnāre to bend forward, f. prōn-us prone a.]
trans. To render prone; to put (the hand, or the fore limb) into the prone position; to turn the palm downwards: see next. Opp. to supinate.
| 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 786/1 The forearm and hand were rigidly pronated. 1849–52 Ibid. IV. 1517/1 The patient is unwilling to attempt to pronate or supinate his hand. 1875 Sir W. Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 832/1 The range of movement at the radio-ulnar joints enables us..to pronate the hand and fore-arm by throwing the radius across the ulna, so as to make the thumb the innermost digit. |
Add: b. intr. Of a limb, esp. the forearm or (in running) the foot: to undergo pronation. Of a person: to pronate a foot (while running, etc.).
| 1912 A. H. Tubby Deformities (ed. 2) I. iii. xiv. 674 The readiness to pronate and the degree of pronation is a measure of the weakness of a feeble foot. 1950 Morehouse & Cooper Kinesiology iv. 99 Exceptional instances in which feet do not pronate have been reported. 1984 Which? June 274/1 It's perfectly possible to pronate on one foot and supinate on the other! 1986 Sci. Amer. Mar. 94/3 Soft materials allow the foot to shift and to pronate excessively. This kind of movement is thought to be the cause of some knee injuries. |
Hence ˈpronating vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. ii. xx. 161 Pronating movements..are frequently indulged in when the back of the fore-arm feels an object against it. 1978 G. A. Sheehan Running & Being xi. 158 The pronating or flattening foot sets up stresses and torques. |