Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To extend or jut out; project. synonym: bulge.
  • intransitive verb To push or thrust outward.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To thrust forward or onward; drive or force along.
  • To shoot or thrust forth; project; cause to project; thrust out as from confinement; cause to come forth: as, a snail protrudes its horns.
  • To shoot forward; be thrust forward; project beyond something.
  • Synonyms To project, jut (out), bulge (out).

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

  • transitive verb To thrust forward; to drive or force along.
  • transitive verb To thrust out, as through a narrow orifice or from confinement; to cause to come forth.
  • intransitive verb To shoot out or forth; to be thrust forward; to extend beyond a limit; to project.

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

  • verb To extend from, above or beyond a surface or boundary; to bulge outward; to stick out.

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

  • verb swell or protrude outwards
  • verb extend out or project in space
  • verb bulge outward

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin prōtrūdere : prō-, forward; see pro– + trūdere, to thrust; see treud- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin prōtrūdō, prōtrūdere.

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