Word.ws English Dictionary

prop

/pɹɒp/US/pɹɑp/

prop noun: an object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports. Also the clipping of propellant.

Noun (1)

prop (plural props)

  1. An object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports.
    • They stuck a block of wood under it as a prop.
    Synonyms:
    shore
  2. The player on either side of the hooker in a scrum.
  3. Any of the seashells in the game of props.

Verb (1)

prop (third-person singular simple present props, present participle propping, simple past and past participle propped)

  1. (figuratively, sometimes, transitive) To support or shore up something.
    • Try using a phone book to prop up the table where the foot is missing.
  2. (intransitive) To play rugby in the prop position.
  3. (transitive, usually) To position the feet of (a person) while sitting, lying down, or reclining so that the knees are elevated at a higher level.
  4. (Australia, New Zealand, intransitive) To stop suddenly or unexpectedly; derived from the situation where a horse might suddenly halt of its own accord, digging its front hooves into the ground to brace itself from forward movement, potentially unseating its rider.
  5. (UK, obsolete, slang, transitive) To knock (a person) down.
    • We used to go out into the roads (highway robbery) between races, and if we met an ‘old bloke’ (man) we ‘propped him’ (knocked him down), and robbed him.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861

Noun (2)

prop (plural props)

  1. An item placed on a stage or set to create a scene or scenario in which actors perform.
    • They used the trophy as a prop in the movie.
    1. (colloquial) A fake or fabricated version of an object, whether or not it is used for a scene.
      • We threw a prop squirrel off of a tower.
  2. An item placed within an advertisement in order to suggest a style of living etc.
    • You can use props in a literal way to enhance the story, such as shooting a woodworker amidst woodworking tools.2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, →ISBN, page 109

Noun (3)

prop (plural props)

  1. The propeller of an aircraft or boat.

Verb (2)

prop (third-person singular simple present props, present participle propping, simple past and past participle propped)

  1. To manually start the engine of a propeller-driven aircraft with no electric starter by pulling vigorously on one of the propeller blades using the hands, so that the propeller can catch ignition.

Noun (4)

prop (plural props)

  1. (US) A proposition, especially on an election-day ballot.
    • John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at Berkeley, said that while he was not an insider on admissions practices, “my sense is that admissions is highly regulated and careful to stay clear of Prop 209 restrictions, and the Supreme Court’s...2025 February 3, Anemona Hartocollis, “The University of California Increased Diversity. Now It’s Being Sued.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC...
    • “Watch how totally dishonest the California Prop vote is!” Trump fumed on Truth Social over the weekend.2025 October 27, Russell Berman, quoting Donald Trump, “‘California Is Allowed to Hit Back’”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2025

Noun (5)

prop (plural props)

  1. (Internet) A part of a plant reared for its multiplication.

Noun (6)

prop (uncountable)

  1. (slang) Testosterone propionate.
    Synonyms:
    test prop

Noun (7)

prop (plural props)

  1. (obsolete, slang) A blow; the act of striking someone.
    • There was some good counter hits, and then Foster received a prop on the nose which drew the claret.1899, Eden Phillpotts, The Human Boy Again
  2. (obsolete, thieves' cant) A scarf pin.

Noun (8) capitalized: PROP

PROP (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of propylthiouracil.

Also used as

prop is also the clipping of propellant.

prop is also the clipping of proposition player.

prop meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

prop in Hindi

प्रोप, प्रॉप

prop in Tamil

object placed against or under another, to support it
முட்டுக்கால் muṭṭukkāl
support
முட்டு muṭṭu

prop in Marathi

प्रोप, प्रॉप

prop in Urdu

پروپ
More languagesFewer languages
prop in Bengali
প্রোপ, প্রপ
prop in Telugu
ఊత ūta
prop in Malayalam
പ്രോപ്, പ്രോപ്പ്
prop in Kannada
ಪ್ರೋಪ್, ಪ್ರೊಪ್
prop in Punjabi
ਪ੍ਰੋਪ, ਪ੍ਰੋਪ ਕਰਨਾ
prop in Gujarati
પ્રોપ
prop in Odia
ପ୍ରୋପ୍, ପ୍ରୋପ, ପ୍ରୋପ୍ କରିବା
prop in Sanskrit
धर्त्र dhartra
prop in Nepali
प्रोप
prop in Arabic
سِنَاد sinād, عِمَاد ʕimād, دِعَامَة diʕāma, رَكِيزَة rakīza
prop in Persian
تکیهگاه tekye-gâh, پایه pâye, پادیر pâdir

Examples of prop in a sentence

  • We sent the new recruit to obtain a bucket of prop wash.
  • Don't rez some enormous prop: it'll lag the server!
  • In his zany prop comedy Gallagher would sometimes smash watermelons and splatter the front rows of the audience.

All 40 example sentences with prop

Synonyms of prop

Forms of prop

Noun
pluralprops
Verb
third-person singular presentprops
present participlepropping
past participlepropped
pastpropped

Past tense of prop: propped

Plural of prop: props

Origin of prop

From Middle English proppe (“a prop, support, support for a vine or plant”), from Middle Dutch proppe (“support, support for a vine, stopper for a bottle”). Compare Middle Low German proppe (“plug, stopper”), German Pfropfen (“plug”), Danish prop (“plug, stopper”).

Clipping of property.

Clipping of propeller.

Words formed from prop

Phrases with prop

4 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with prop

44 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about prop

What does prop mean?
Prop means an object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports.
What is prop in Hindi?
Prop in Hindi is प्रोप, प्रॉप. See Prop meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is prop?
Prop can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce prop?
Prop is pronounced /pɹɒp/ (UK).
What is the plural of prop?
The plural of prop is props.

Words near prop in the dictionary

  1. prooving
  2. proovogenic
  3. prooxidant
  4. prooxidants
  5. prooxidative
  6. prop
  7. prop bet
  8. prop bets
  9. prop blast
  10. prop blasts
  11. prop comedian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prop (page history and authors); PROP (page history and authors); prop (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); prop (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-prop.wav.

Cite this entry: “prop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.