You searched for: “prostate”
prostate (s) (noun), prostates (pl)
1. A gland within the male reproductive system that is located just below the bladder: Chestnut shaped, the prostate surrounds the beginning of the urethra, the canal that empties the bladder.

The prostate is actually not one but many glands, 30-50 in number, between which is abundant tissue containing many bundles of smooth muscle. The secretion of the prostate is a milky fluid that is discharged into the urethra at the time of the ejaculation of semen.
2. Etymology: from Middle French prostate, from Medieval Latin prostata, "the prostate" from Greek prostates, "prostate (gland)", from prostates "one standing in front", from proistanai, "set before", from pro-, "before" plus histanai, "cause to stand".

Herophilus, a Greek anatomist and surgeon

Herophilus c.335-c.280 B.C., born in Chalcedon, was the founder of the Alexandria school of anatomy.

The origin of the name prostate is rather strange. The word is from the Greek prostates, "to stand before". The anatomist Herophilus called it the prostate because, as he saw the situation, it "stands before" the testes.

    He was—
  • one of the first to conduct post-mortem examinations.
  • the first to dissect the human body to compare it with that of other animals.
  • credited with describing the brain, liver, spleen, sexual organs, and nervous system, dividing the latter into sensory and motor.
  • the first to measure or time the pulse, for which he used a water clock.
—Chambers Biographical Dictionary, Chambers Harrap Publishers, Ltd., 1997.
Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1995.
This entry is located in the following units: prostato-, prostat- + (page 1) stato-, stat-, sta-, -static, -stasi, staso-, -stasis, -stasia, -stacy, -stitute, -stitution, -sist (page 14)
prostate, prostrate
prostate (PRAHS tayt") (noun)
An organ or gland within the male mammal reproductive system that is located just below the bladder and which produces the liquid in which sperm is carried: At the time of his annual check-up, the doctor checked Justin's prostate for cancer and informed him that he had an enlarged gland but that he did not have cancer.
prostrate (PRAHS trayt") (adjective)
1. Referring to someone or something that is lying flat without the energy or power to get up: After the long hike in the heat, the hikers lay prostrate in the shade, resting and sipping water.
2. Demonstrating a helplessness or submissive posture: The condemned prisoner assumed a prostrate position, hoping for clemency from the judge.

A physician once said that it is preferred that a man be prostrate before the urologist can examine his prostate.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group P; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 9)
prostato-, prostat- +
(Greek: one who stands before, in front of; refers primarily to the prostate gland [so named because it "stands before" the mouth of the bladder])
Word Entries containing the term: “prostate”
isthmus prostatae, isthmus of prostate
A band of fibromuscular tissue that joins the right to the left lobe of the prostate in front of the urethra.
This entry is located in the following unit: isthm-, isthmo- + (page 1)