prop

Multiple Entries:
  prop    prop.  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prop1

▶noun

• 1 a pole or beam used as a temporary support.

• 2 a major source of support or assistance.

• 3 (also prop forward) Rugby a forward at either end of the front row of a scrum.

• 4 chiefly Austral. a sudden stop made by a horse moving at speed.

▶verb (props, propping, propped)

• 1 support with or as with a prop.

  ■ lean against something else.

• 2 (prop someone/thing up) support or assist someone or something that would otherwise fail or decline.

• 3 chiefly Austral. (of a horse) come to a dead stop with the forelegs rigid.

– origin ME: prob. from MDu. proppe ‘support (for vines)’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prop2

▶noun

• 1 a portable object used on the set of a play or film.

• 2 (props) [treated as sing.] informal, dated a property man or mistress.

– origin C19: abbrev. of property.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prop3

▶noun informal an aircraft propeller.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prop.

▶abbreviation

• 1 proposition.

• 2 proprietor.