From Middle English proven, from Old English prōfian and Old French prover, both from Latin probō, from probus ("good, worthy, excellent"), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰuH-s, from *pro-, *per- ("toward") + *bʰuH- ("to be").

• enPR: pro͞ov, IPA: /pɹuːv/

prove (proves, present participle proving; simple past and past participle proved)

1. (transitive) To demonstrate that something is true or viable; to give proof for.
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC ↗:

     Mr. H …, whom no distinctions of that sort seemed to disturb, scarce gave himself or me breathing time from the last encounter, but, as if he had task'd himself to prove that the appearances of his vigour were not signs hung out in vain, in a few minutes he was in a condition for renewing the onset

   I will prove that my method is more effective than yours.

2. (intransitive) To turn out; to manifest.

   It proved to be a cold day.

3. (copulative) To turn out to be.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii ↗:

     But ſhall I prooue a traitor to my King?

   • 1964, Jean Merrill, The Pushcart War, 2014 The New York Review Children's Collection edition, ISBN 9781590178195, chapter 33, page 199:

     This battle did not take place in the streets. It took place entirely in words, and it was to prove the turning point in the war.

   Have an exit strategy should your calculations prove incorrect.
4. (transitive) To put to the test, to make trial of.

   They took the experimental car to the proving-grounds.

   The exception proves the rule.

   The hypothesis has not been proven to our satisfaction.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 26”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC ↗:

     Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee,
     Till then not show my head where thou may'st prove me.

   • 1825 June 21, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 71 ↗:

     Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.

5. (transitive) To ascertain or establish the genuineness or validity of; to verify.

   to prove a will

6. (archaic, transitive) To experience.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 34:

     Where she, captived long, great woes did prove.

7. (printing, dated, transitive) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.

   to prove a page

8. Alternative form of proof
9. (homeopathy) To determine by experiment which effects a substance causes when ingested.

• French: prouver
• German: beweisen, prüfen
• Italian: dimostrare, provare
• Portuguese: provar, demonstrar
• Russian: дока́зывать
• Spanish: probar, demostrar

• French: se révéler, s’avérer
• German: herausstellen, zeigen
• Italian: manifestare, dimostrare
• Russian: ока́зываться

• Italian: testare, provare
• Portuguese: provar, experimentar
• Spanish: probar, testear (Arg., Chile)

• Portuguese: validar, comprovar
• Spanish: validar

prove (plural proves)

1. (baking) The process of dough proofing.
   • 2009, Paul Allam, David McGuinness, Bourke Street Bakery: the ultimate baking companion:

     You may also need to think about what the prove is doing to the loaf of bread — it is warming the dough and making it moist, allowing it to rise […]

Simple past form of proove, conjugated as a Germanic strong verb, on the pattern of choose → chose.

• (RP) IPA: /pɹəʊv/

1. simple past of proove