Definition of prostrate

• a. - Lying at length, or with the body extended on the ground or other surface; stretched out; as, to sleep prostrate.
• a. - Lying at mercy, as a supplicant.
• a. - Lying in a humble, lowly, or suppliant posture.
• a. - Trailing on the ground; procumbent.
• v. t. - To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants.
• v. t. - to overthrow; to demolish; to destroy; to deprive of efficiency; to ruin; as, to prostrate a village; to prostrate a government; to prostrate law or justice.
• v. t. - To throw down, or cause to fall in humility or adoration; to cause to bow in humble reverence; used reflexively; as, he prostrated himself.
• v. t. - To cause to sink totally; to deprive of strength; to reduce; as, a person prostrated by fever.