proj|ect

proj|ect «noun. PROJ ehkt; verb. pruh JEHKT», noun, verb.

–n.

1. a plan; scheme: »

Flying in a heavy machine was once thought an impossible project.

SYNONYM(S): See syn. under plan. (Cf. ↑plan)

2. an undertaking; enterprise: »

to grant funds for a research project.

3. a special assignment planned and carried out by a student, a group of students, or an entire class.

4. U.S. a group of apartment buildings built and run as a unit; a housing project: »

Lucretia…lives in the same project, one flight up (New Yorker).

╂[< Latin prōjectum < prōjicere; see the verb]

–v.t.

1. a) to plan; scheme: »

The government projected a tax decrease. I projected and drew up a plan for the union (Benjamin Franklin).

SYNONYM(S): devise, contrive. b) to make a forecast for (something) on the basis of past performance: »

to project a population increase of 20 per cent in ten years.

SYNONYM(S): foresee, forecast.

2. to throw or cast forward: »

to project a missile into space. A cannon projects shells.

3. to cause to fall on a surface or into space: »

Motion pictures are projected on the screen. The tree projects a shadow on the grass.

4. to cause to stick out or protrude: »

to project a pier out into the lake.

5. to draw lines through (a point, line or figure) and reproduce it on a line, plane, or surface.

6. Psychology. to treat as objective and external (what is essentially subjective).

–v.i.

1. to stick out: »

The rocky point projects far into the water.

SYNONYM(S): protrude.

2. U.S. Dialect. to make plans, especially in an ineffective way.

╂[< Latin prōjectus, past participle of prōjicere stretch out, expel < prō- forward + jacere to throw]

–pro|ject´a|ble, adjective.