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.

1. A thermostat that operates at very high temperatures: There was a pyrostat integrated in the new stove Susan had which regulated the supply of heat she wanted to use for cooking.
2. An automatic sensing device that triggers an alarm or extinguisher if there happens to be a fire: The pyrostat started instantly when the flames broke out in the kitchen of Mary's house.