prof
US/pɹɑf/
prof is the clipping of professor.
prof is the clipping of profit.
Meaning of professor
Noun
professor (plural professors)
- The most senior rank for an academic at a university or similar institution.
- Professor is what you become after teaching for twenty to thirty years.2014 November 22, Michel Clasquin-Johnson, “What is the difference between a research professor and a professor”, in Quora
- A teacher or faculty member at a college or university regardless of formal rank.
- One who professes something, such as a religious doctrine.
- […] I alvvayes thought / It vvas both impious and vnnaturall, / That ſuch immanity and bloody ſtrife / Should reigne among Profeſſors of one Faith.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- A practitioner, one who (publicly) practises or teaches an art or skill.
- Two young men of familiar acquaintance … were one euening at a common Inne of this town (as I haue heard) where the one of them shewed his skill on the Virginals, to the no little contentement of the hearers. Nowe as diuers guests of the house came into the room to listen, so among the rest entered...1592, Robert Green, The Thirde & Last Part of Conny-catching, Bodleian Library (Malone 575), London: John Lane. Reprinted in 1923, Harrison, G. B. (ed.), The Bodley Head Quartos III, Plainstow, Great...
- A pianist in a saloon, brothel, etc.
- You could hear […] pianos under the hands of whorehouse professors sounding like they came with keys between the keys.2006, Thomas Pynchon, “(please specify the page)”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN
- The puppeteer who performs a Punch and Judy show; a Punchman.
Meaning of profit
Noun
profit (countable and uncountable, plural profits)
- Total income or cash flow minus expenditures. The money or other benefit a non-governmental organization or individual receives in exchange for products and services sold at an advertised price.
- Let no man anticipate uncertain profits.1750 Oct. 2, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
- Benefit, positive result obtained.
- Reading such an enlightening book on the subject was of much profit to his studies.
Noun capitalized: Prof
Prof (plural Profs)
- Informal spelling of Prof.
- Prof Barbara Walter notes in her book How Civil Wars Start that two conditions are key: ethnic factionalism and anocracy – when a country is neither fully democratic nor fully autocratic.2023 June 16, “The Guardian view on Trump and political violence: more than words”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2023
Forms of prof
| plural | profs |
|---|---|
| plural | Profs |
Origin of prof
Shortening.
Phrases with prof
Words that rhyme with prof
Questions about prof
Words near prof in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prof (page history and authors); Prof (page history and authors); professor (page history and authors); profit (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-prof.wav.
Cite this entry: “prof.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prof. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.