Fwd: "project" - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

"'Shall I project a world?'  Oedipa will later ask herself."  (Lot 49, p. 82)

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Subject: "project" - Word of the Day from the OED
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project, n.

DRAFT REVISION Sept. 2008

Brit. /prdkt/, U.S. /prdk(t)/  Forms: lME-15 proiecte, 15-16 proiect,
15- project, 16 projecte; Sc. pre-17 proget, pre-17 17- project, 18
projeck (Shetland), 19- progjek (Shetland). [Apparently partly <
classical Latin priectum projecting structure (2nd cent. A.D.), in
post-classical Latin also something uttered (4th or 5th cent. in
Jerome; use as noun of neuter singular of priectus, past participle of
pricere PROJECT v.), partly (as in sense 4) < classical Latin priectus
fact of extending beyond a surface or edge, projection (< priect-,
past participial stem of pricere + -tus, suffix forming verbal nouns),
and partly directly < classical Latin priect-, past participial stem
of pricere; none of these, however, account fully for sense 1 (and
senses derived from it), and this is perhaps after Middle French
projetter, projecter to plan (see PROJECT v.), or perhaps (in spite of
the chronology) after either PROJECT v. or Middle French proiect,
projet plan (1470 as pourget; French projet, project; < projetter).
Compare Italian progetto (1553; < Middle French proiect, projet),
Spanish proyecto plan (mid 16th cent.). Compare PROJECT adj.]

    1. a. A plan, draft, scheme, or table of something; a tabulated
statement; a design or pattern according to which something is made.
Obs.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3331 Sire Darius awen dyademe;
ai did on his hede..On e propurest of proiecte at euire prince bere.
1581 W. LAMBARDE Eirenarcha (1588) II. vii. 225, I will now adventure
to run thorow all the sortes of Manslaughters and Felonies..which (for
the more light) I have bestowed in this project (or Table) following.
1583 T. SMITH De Republica Anglorum III. ix. 118 This being as a
proiect or table of a common wealth truely laide before you. 1600
(title) A projecte, conteyninge the state, order, and manner of
governmente of the University of Cambridge. As now it is to be seene.
1601 P. HOLLAND tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 535 Many other plots and
projects there doe remaine of his [sc. Parasius] drawing [L. multa
graphidis vestigia]. 1627 M. WREN Serm. 6 My sonne, love God; or, My
sonne, praise God; or, My sonne, obey God;..My sonne, feare God, is a
Project and Promise of them all. 1696 J. DENNIS Remarks Prince Arthur
iv. 17 The Action of the Poem ought to be one not only in the Plan of
the Fable and in the first Project, but likewise after the Imposition
of Names, and after the framing the Episodes.

    b. A mental conception, idea, or notion; speculation. Obs.

1600 SHAKESPEARE Henry IV, Pt. 2 I. iii. 29 Flattring himselfe in
proiect of a power, Much smaller then the smallest of his thoughts.
1600 SHAKESPEARE Much Ado about Nothing III. i. 55 She cannot loue,
Nor take no shape nor proiect of affection, She is so selfe indeared.
1606 J. CLAPHAM Hist. Great Brit. 184 So that I am forced..to fill up
blancks with conjectures or projects of mine owne invention. 1727 D.
DEFOE Acct. Scotl. 152 A great deal of project and fancy may be
employed to find out the ancient shape of the Church.

    2. a. A planned or proposed undertaking; a scheme, a proposal; a
purpose, an objective.

1582 R. MULCASTER 1st Pt. Elementarie xiii. 81 Somtime it [sc. war]
sendeth vs trew reports, either priuatelie in proiects and deuises,
that be entended, or publikelie in euents. 1589 A. MUNDAY Hist.
Palmendos xiii. f. 43v, Thys was the proiect of Arnedes resolution,
which in secrete he imparted to his Cozin Recind. 1604 T. WRIGHT
Passions of Minde (new ed.) v. §3. 172 Orators, whose proiect is
persuasion. 1623 T. SCOTT High-waies of God 80 All our Proiects of
draining surrounded grounds. 1682 J. BUNYAN Holy War 266 We considered
of that most hellishly, cunning compacted, three-fold project, that by
you was propounded to us in your last. 1702 Clarendon's Hist.
Rebellion I. I. 22 New Projects were every day set on foot for Money,
which serv'd only to offend, and incense the People. 1711 J. ADDISON
Spectator No. 5 ¶3 There was actually a Project of bringing the
New-River into the House, to be employed in Jetteaus and Water-works.
1814 J. AUSTEN Mansfield Park I. x. 202 Henry Crawford was full of
ideas and projects, and, generally speaking, whatever he proposed was
immediately approved. 1863 'G. ELIOT' Romola I. Proem 6 We Florentines
were too full of great building projects to carry them all out in
stone and marble. 1874 J. R. GREEN Short Hist. Eng. People vi. §6. 326
The moral support which the project was expected to receive from the
Parliament. 1925 A. TOYNBEE Surv. Internat. Affairs 1920-23 31 Mr.
Lloyd George broached to the French delegation his project for a Pact
of Non-aggression. 1998 Garden Answers Sept. 17/2 David's latest
project is to create a log garden, using great chunks from an old
beech tree..and building raised beds around them.

    b. Educ. An exercise in which school or college students study a
topic, either independently or in collaboration, over an extended
period; a piece of research work undertaken by a student or group of
students.

1916 D. SNEDDEN in School & Society 16 Sept. 420/2 Some of us began
using the word 'project' to describe a unit of educative work in which
the most prominent feature was some form of positive and concrete
achievement. 1942 B. CLEMENTS et al. Projects for Junior School:
Teachers' Bk. i. 5 When working out a project the teacher gives help
only when and where necessary, since the basic principle of modern
teaching is child activity and teacher guidance. 1959 Housewife June
16 Cristy, who in one crowded summer, enjoys a library reading
project, a visit to a Kansas farm and a course in baby care. 1961 S.
J. CURTIS & M. E. A. BOULTWOOD Short Hist. Educ. Ideas (ed. 3) xx. 580
Not only were large-scale projects on such topics as 'Conservation'
and 'Pan-Americanism' undertaken by many schoolsoften all the schools
of an areaas part of the curriculum, but, in addition, community
service by school children became common. 1994 Animals' Voice Fall
41/3 Thank you very much for your help on my school project on animal
abuse... I have included a pamphlet that I created on puppy mills.
2000 J. S. JONES Welsh Boys Too 18 You talked about your class project
on the Penrhyn Quarry at Bethesda.

    c. In business, science, etc.: a collaborative enterprise, freq.
involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a
particular aim.

1916 Washington Post 2 Apr. 4 New York mechanical engineers associated
with Prof. Parker in his engineering and research projects. 1951 W. H.
AUDEN Nones (1952) 61 Thou shalt not worship projects nor Shalt thou
or thine bow down before Administration. 1965 H. I. ANSOFF Corporate
Strategy ii. 17 CIT uses long-term profitability over the lifetime of
the project as the yardstick for evaluation. 1988 Hamilton (Ont.)
Spectator 19 Apr. B3/1 The project..is expected to create 12 jobs,
maintain three others and result in incremental sales of $3.5 million
over the next five years. 2005 Metro 19 July 19/4 By day she is
spear-heading an ambitious project at the University of Guelph to
build Canada's most powerful proton microprobe.

    d. N. Amer. An urban block of apartments built and administered by
the government for low-income tenants, typically perceived as
dangerously crime-ridden. Freq. as the projects.
  housing project: see housing project n. at HOUSING n.1 Compounds 1.

1932 Amer. City Aug. 82/2 All housing projects should be large-scale
developments. 1939 N.Y. Times 2 Mar. 4 The lower-income groups could
not afford to live in the projects, and, as a result, the housing
program would not help those who needed it most. 1966 Listener 29
Sept. 454/1 Jim lives in one of a group of fifteen-storey-high
buildings that make up a project, a city-owned housing estate. A
family can rent an apartment cheaply in a project if it has a low
income. Officially intended to replace the slum neighbourhoods of ten
years ago, the projects are stark, anonymous, all-brick slums now.
1974 J. WILLWERTH Jones: Portrait of Mugger iv. 49 The projects..are
poorly designed and vastly overcrowdedblack leaders sometimes call
them 'vertical prisons'. 2004 E. CONLON Blue Blood xii. 468 It was
easier to picture her in a bathrobe, rye and soda in hand, dusting the
knickknack shelf.., than it was to imagine her scoring crack in the
projects.

    3. Something projected or thrown out; a projection, an emanation
(of some being or thing). Obs.

1596 T. LODGE Diuel Coniured f. Div, Architas Doue, Dedalus Laborinth,
both but the Proiects of wit, were held Magicall and admirable. 1599
R. FENTON Answ. W. Alabaster vii. 35 An apprehension, censure, and
proiect from the intelligence of sensible occurrents, both in naturall
and ciuill bodies. 1601 B. JONSON Every Man in his Humor III. i. 22 Oh
beauty is a Proiect of some power, Chiefely when oportunitie attends
her. 1849 G. DAWSON Shaks. & Other Lect. (1888) 416 The house should
be a project of the creature who inhabits it.

    4. The fact of being thrown out or put forth. Obs. rare.

1601 P. HOLLAND tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 535 The said branches
immediatly from their project [L. proiectu] must rise somewhat vpright
in maner of fingers, standing forth from the palm of ones hand.

    5. Something thrown; a projectile, a missile. Obs.

1675 E. SHERBURNE in tr. M. Manilus Sphere 126 Some Tentamina de Motu
Penduli & Projectorum; In which there being some Ingenious Debates
about..the Theory of Pendulums for the exact measuring of Time,
and..Equations of great Ingenuity suited to the Motion thereof, and of
Projects. 1684 Minutes Dublin Soc. 7 July in T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc.
(1757) IV. 323 Mr. Molyneux explained a contrivance of his own for
demonstrating to the eye the figure, wherein projects do move. 1706 W.
JONES Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos Pref. sig. b, The Doctrine of the
Motion of Projects, particularly applied to Gunnery and Throwing of
Bombs. 1728 E. CHAMBERS Cycl., Projectile, or Project, in Mechanics, a
heavy Body put in Motion by an external Force. 1730 T. WESTON tr. G.
Galilei Math. Discourses IV. 385 Among those Projects, which we make
Use of..if they are of a lighter Matter.., their Track or Path will
not sensibly deviate fom the Curve of a Parabola. 1739 R. HESLSHAM
Course Lect. Nat. Philos. xi. 188 Point T is equally distant from A,
where the project begins its motion, and from B, where the motion of
the project ceases.

    6. Geom. The projection (PROJECTION n. 2) of a figure on to a
surface. Obs. rare.

1807 C. HUTTON Course Math. II. 159 [A] set of theorems, relating to
projects made on any given inclined planes.
________________________________

    COMPOUNDS

    General attrib. and objective (chiefly in sense 2).

    project approach n.

1952 Internat. Organization 6 29 The '*project approach' dominated the
first several years of WHO's relationships with member states. 1973
N.Y. Law Jrnl. 4 Sept. 5/6 We are endeavoring to try appropriation
cases on a project approach. 1992 Oxfam News Summer 8/2 The project
marks an important step forward in development thinking, a shift from
the 'project approach' where Third World initiatives are supported
with funding, to 'networking': helping groups to talk to each other.

    project architect n.

1934 Van Nuys (Calif.) News 8 Nov. II. 1/2 Architectural plans for the
40 dwellings.., completed by Joseph Weston of El Monte, *project
architect, have been approved. 1999 Building Design 13 Aug. 36/3
(advt.) Prior Manton Tuke Powell seek an experienced project architect
to join our team involved with a £9m private sector hospital
new-build/refurbishment project.

    project area n.

1924 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 16 Sept. 1/7 Such an amount of water
as may be necessary to supply the deficiency not supplied for the
*project area from the Carson river. 1952 Times 3 Oct. 4/3 Each state
has been allotted a project area where roads, bridges, or canals will
be built. 1997 Economist 1 Feb. 124/1 (advt.) Educational Advisor...
Responsibilities: To survey the project areas..and on the basis of the
survey result..develop an educational project development plan.

    project book n.

1927 Decatur (Illinois) Daily Rev. 1 Jan. 2/2 The hay was turned over
to my father..and a value was put on it to record in the *project
book. 1947 A. EINSTEIN Music Romantic Era xiii. 181 The scheme for the
composition of such a work is found in Schumann's 'project-book'. 1976
Columbus (Montana) News 10 June (Fair Bk. Suppl.) 18/1 Those
exhibiting must have the project books up to date and be enrolled in
the project and unit in which they are exhibiting. 1999 Needlecraft
Mar. 56/1 From the start she was determined it wasn't to be just
another project book cashing in on the fashion for reproducing
Victorian samplers.

    project engineer n.

1911 Amer. Econ. Rev. 1 14 Even more important to the economic success
of the farmers is the service of the *project engineer. 1931 F. L.
EIDMANN Econ. Control Engin. & Manuf. iv. 45 In plants where the
engineering projects are large,..it has been found that a very good
way of handling the work is to assign one engineer to the task of
'living' with the job from start to finish... This engineer is known
as a 'project engineer' in some organizations. 1973 Times 12 Nov. 28/8
Let us see the professionals all take a greater share of
responsibility if a project is to be a success instead of leaving it
to the 'jack of all trades'the project engineer. 2003 Advocate (Baton
Rouge, Louisiana) (Nexis) 7 May, He..worked as project engineer on
many power plants throughout the world.

    project house n.

1947 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 24 Apr. 4/3 The total cost of
*project houses includes the cost of land. 1967 G. JACKSON Let. Nov.
in Soledad Brother (1971) 139, I thought most blacks..understood..that
these places were built with us in mind, just as were the project
houses, unemployment offices, and bible schools. 1996 Herald (Glasgow)
(Nexis) 9 July 14 The project house in which teenage Elvis Presley
grew up.

    project housing n.

1953 Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Intelligencer 2 May 1/2 The rate for
FHA-insured mortgages had been..4 per cent on large scale *project
housing. 1970 D. GOLDRICH et al. in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat.
Amer. v. 182 Those invaders who could qualify by 'normal' criteria for
project housing would receive it. 1994 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 59 899/1 The
commissioners..had discretion to allow tenants whose eviction had been
ordered by the eviction board to stay in project housing. 2002
Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 15 Apr. B1 But it's a narrow band of
gentrification... Behind the commercial strip, the rows and rows of
project housing remain.

    project method n.

1916 J. C. MOORE in School Sci. & Math. Nov. 688 The *project method
in science is nothing new, though the name often calls forth an
attack... The story of every great invention is the story of a
project. 1943 H. READ Educ. through Art vii. 233, I am aware that
serious criticisms have been made of the project method of teaching,
but they seem to be based on a formless type of project. 1989 B. SPOCK
& M. MORGAN Spock on Spock ix. 112 The project method was in contrast
to the traditional elementary school teaching of subjects such as
arithmetic, reading, writing, and social studies in isolation from one
another. 1996 E. D. HIRSCH Schools we Need 253 Gloss., Very often the
term 'hands-on' is an honorific term used to praise the progressivist
'project method' of education and to disparage a 'whole-class
instruction'.

    project-monger n.

1630 J. TAYLOR Great Eater of Kent 4 Some get their liuings..by their
braines, as politicians, monopolists, *proiect-mongers, suit-ioggers,
and star-gazers. ?1713 J. OLDMIXON Torism & Trade can never Agree 25,
I challenge this Project-Monger to give me a better Reason for the
giving up that Trade to France, than because the one are Papists and
the other Protestants. 1905 Longman's Mag. July 262 The old
project-monger beamed with her full moon face. 1988 Current Anthropol.
29 116/2 As long as this 'project'-oriented view prevails,
anthropologists..will be regarded as either superfluous or a nuisance
to the project-mongers in their business.

    project officer n.

1933 Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 6 Feb. 2 The John A. Preston
community house is being partially remodeled..with Mrs. James H.
Preston as *project officer. 1948 Science 16 Jan. 51/1 The1947
operation was carried out under the leadeship of Capt. C. L. Engelman,
Project Officer. 1973 R. HAYES Hungarian Game xxxi. 183 Generally
speaking, sir, agents administer things, while Project Officers
administer people. 2000 Building Design 11 Feb. 28/2 (advt.) A Project
Officer is required in the office of the Surveyor to the University to
assist the Deputy Surveyor (Architects).

    project work n.

1924 D. B. LEARY in I. L. Kandel Twenty-five Years Amer. Educ. iv. 113
Now, particularly in the *project work, both activities and aims are
seen in terms of larger psychological reactions. 1958 Sunday Times 15
June 4/8, I want more, not less, practical mathematics in junior
schools..and suitably graded mathematical project work in secondary
schools. 1997 Independent 2 July 19/6 On Saturdays, meanwhile, the
desperate scramble of teenagers with project work.can put off library
users of other ages.

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