Prone (?), a. [L. pronus, akin to Gr. , , Skr. pravana sloping, inclined, and also to L. pro forward, for. See Pro-.]
1.
Bending forward; inclined; not erect.
Towards him they bend
With awful reverence prone.
Milton.
2.
Prostrate; flat; esp., lying with the face down; -- opposed to supine.
Which, as the wind,
Blew where it listed, laying all things prone.
Byron.
3.
Headlong; running downward or headlong.
"Down thither
prone in flight."
Milton.
4.
Sloping, with reference to a line or surface; declivous; inclined; not level.
Since the floods demand,
For their descent, a prone and sinking land.
Blackmore.
5.
Inclined; propense; disposed; -- applied to the mind or affections, usually in an ill sense. Followed by to.
"
Prone to mischief."
Shak.
Poets are nearly all prone to melancholy.
Landor.
© Webster 1913.