protract

English

Etymology

From the past participle stem of Latin prōtrahō.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈtɹakt/

Verb

protract (third-person singular simple present protracts, present participle protracting, simple past and past participle protracted)

To draw out; to extend, especially in duration.
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, ‘The Men Who Made England’, The Atlantic, Mar 2010:
  Still, from these extraordinary pages you can learn that it's very bad to be burned alive on a windy day, because the breeze will keep flicking the flames away from you and thus protract the process.
To use a protractor.
(surveying) To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot.
To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer.
to protract a decision or duty

(Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
To extend; to protrude.
A cat can protract and retract its claws.

Synonyms

(to draw out): prolong

Derived terms

protractile

Translations

To draw out; to extend, especially in duration.

Dutch: verlengen (nl), aanhouden (nl), rekken (nl)
Finnish: pitkittää
French: prolonger (fr), tirer en longueur (fr)
German: verlängern (de), sich ziehen, sich hinziehen, in die Länge ziehen, überziehen (de)
Ido: tardigar (io)

Italian: protrarre (it)
Maori: autō, aukume
Portuguese: prolongar (pt)
Spanish: prolongar (es)

To use a protractor.

Dutch: op schaal tekenen

To draw or delineate.

Dutch: schetsen (nl), afbakenen (nl)

to put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer

German: verschieben (de)

Spanish: diferir (es)

to extend; to protrude

German: ausfahren, verlängern (de)

Spanish: extender (es)

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