prospect

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Something expected; a possibility.
• noun Chances.
• noun Financial expectations, especially of success.
• noun A potential customer, client, or purchaser.
• noun A candidate deemed likely to succeed.
• noun The direction in which an object, such as a building, faces; an outlook.
• noun Something presented to the eye; a scene.
• noun The act of surveying or examining.
• noun The location or probable location of a mineral deposit.
• noun An actual or probable mineral deposit.
• noun The mineral yield obtained by working an ore.
• intransitive verb To search for or explore (a region) for mineral deposits or oil.
• intransitive verb To explore for mineral deposits or oil.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To look forward; have a view or outlook; face.
• (pros′ pekt). In mining, to make a search; explore: as, to prospect for a place which may be profitably worked for precious metal.
• To look forward toward; have a view of.
• (pros′ pekt). In mining: To explore for unworked deposits of ore, as a mining region.
• To do experimental work upon, as a new mining claim, for the purpose of ascertaining its probable value: as, he is prospecting a claim.
• noun The view of things within the reach of the eye; sight; survey.
• noun That which is presented to the eye; scene; view.
• noun A view or representation in perspective; a perspective; a landscape.
• noun An object of observation or contemplation.
• noun A place which affords an extensive view.
• noun A wide, long, straight street or avenue: as, the Ascension Prospect in St. Petersburg.
• noun Direction of the front of a building, window, or other object, especially in relation to the points of the compass; aspect; outlook; exposure: as, a prospect toward the south or north.
• noun A looking forward; anticipation; foresight.
• noun Expectation, or ground of expectation, especially expectation of advantage (often so used in the plural): as, a prospect of a good harvest; a prospect of preferment; his prospects are good.
• noun In mining, any appearance, especially a surface appearance, which seems to indicate a chance for successful mining. Sometimes used as a synonym of color in panning out auriferous sand, or more often for the entire amount of metal obtained in panning or vanning.
• noun In heraldry, a view of any sort used as a bearing: as, the prospect of a ruined temple.
• noun In organ-building, the external front or façade of the instrument, including the case and the display-pipes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To make a search; to seek; to explore, as for mines or the like.
• noun That which is embraced by eye in vision; the region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
• noun Especially, a picturesque or widely extended view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
• noun rare A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
• noun Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
• noun The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
• noun That which is hoped for; ground for hope or expectation; expectation; probable result.
• transitive verb To look over; to explore or examine for something.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
• noun A hope; a hopeful.
• noun sports Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
• noun music The facade of an organ.
• verb intransitive To search, as for gold.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the visual percept of a region
• noun the possibility of future success
• noun someone who is considered for something (for an office or prize or honor etc.)
• noun a prediction of the course of a disease