proof

pronunciation

How to pronounce proof in British English: UK [pruːf] word uk audio image

How to pronounce proof in American English: US [pruːf] word us audio image

Noun:

any factual evidence that helps to establish the truth of something
a formal series of statements showing that if one thing is true something else necessarily follows from it
a measure of alcoholic strength expressed as an integer twice the percentage of alcohol present (by volume)
(printing) an impression made to check for errors
a trial photographic print from a negative
the act of validating; finding or testing the truth of something
Verb:

make or take a proof of, such as a photographic negative, an etching, or typeset
knead to reach proper lightness
read for errors
activate by mixing with water and sometimes sugar or milk
make resistant to water, sound, errors, etc.
Adjective:

(used in combination or as a suffix) able to withstand

Word Origin

proof: proof: [13] Proof and prove are of course closely related. Both go back ultimately to Latin probāre ‘test, prove’. From this in post-classical times was derived the noun proba ‘proof’, which passed into English via Old French preve as pref. In the 14th and 15th centuries this gradually changed in the mainstream language to proof, due to the influence of the verb prove.=> probe, prove

proof (n.): early 13c., preove "evidence to establish the fact of (something)," from Anglo-French preove, Old French prueve "proof, test, experience" (13c., Modern French preuve), from Late Latin proba "a proof," a back-formation from Latin probare "to prove" (see prove). "The devocalization of v to f ensued upon the loss of final e; cf. the relation of v and f in believe, belief, relieve, relief, behove, behoof, etc. [OED]. Meaning "act of proving" is early 14c. Meaning "act of testing or making trial of anything" is from late 14c., from influence of prove. Meaning "standard of strength of distilled liquor" is from 1705. In photography from 1855. Typographical sense of "trial impression to test type" is from c. 1600. Numismatic sense of "coin struck to test a die" is from 1762; now mostly in reference to coins struck from highly polished dies, mainly for collectors. Adjectival sense (proof against) is recorded from 1590s, from the noun in expressions such as proof of (mid-15c.), hence extended senses involving "tested power" in compounds such as fireproof (1630s), waterproof (1725), foolproof (1902), etc. Shakespeare has shame-proof. Expression the proof is in the pudding (1915) is a curious perversion of earlier proof of the pudding is in the eating (1708), with proof in the sense "quality of proving good or turning out well" (17c.); perhaps an advertiser's condensed form of the original.