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pro·tect (prə-tĕkt)
Share:
tr.v. pro·tect·ed, pro·tect·ing, pro·tects
1.
a. To keep from being damaged, attacked, stolen, or injured; guard. See Synonyms at defend.
b. To keep from being subjected to difficulty or unpleasantness: a mother who wanted to protect her children from the troubles she had seen when growing up.
c. To keep from being curtailed or exposed to risk: The reporter vowed to protect the privacy of his sources.
2. To help (domestic industry) with tariffs or quotas on imported goods.
3. To assure payment of (drafts or notes, for example) by setting aside funds.
4. Sports To attempt to hold (a lead) by playing careful defense and avoiding risky plays.
5. Baseball
a. To swing at a pitch near (home plate) in order to avoid being called out on strikes.
b. To swing at a pitch so as to give (a base runner) a better chance of advancing.

[Middle English protecten, from Latin prōtegere, prōtēct- : prō-, in front; see PRO-1 + tegere, to cover; see (s)teg- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

pro·tecting·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.