procumbent
Americanadjective
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lying on the face; prone; prostrate.
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Botany. (of a plant or stem) lying along the ground, but not putting forth roots.
adjective
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Also: prostrate. (of stems) growing along the ground
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leaning forwards or lying on the face
Etymology
Origin of procumbent
1660–70; < Latin prōcumbent- (stem of prōcumbēns ) bending forward, present participle of prōcumbere. See pro- 1, incumbent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The procumbent stems will, in strong patches, be found to supply rootlets in abundance.
From Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers Describing the Most Desirable Plants, for Borders, Rockeries, and Shrubberies. by John Wood
The stems are many from the root, 16 to 18 inches long, ascending or decumbent and prostrate, leafy, glabrous, rooting freely at the lower nodes, especially when procumbent.
From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by K. Rangachari
Skull: Larger in every measurement taken; premaxillae extended farther posteriorly to nasals; extension of supraoccipital posterior to lambdoidal suture markedly less; tympanic bullae actually as well as relatively smaller; upper incisors longer and more procumbent.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
Annual, twining or procumbent, low, roughish, the joints naked; leaves halberd-heart shaped, pointed; flowers in small interrupted corymbose racemes; outer calyx-lobes keeled; achene smoothish.—Cult. and waste grounds, common.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
Weak, procumbent or ascending, rooting below and perennial by lateral and terminal filiform runners; leaves several pairs, oblong-spatulate, 1–2´ long; inflorescence racemosely 1–9-flowered; petals pale rose-color; capsule small, 1–3-seeded.—In a cold ravine, Winona Co.,
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
