PROSE, the natural language of mankind, loose, and unconfin'd by poetical measures, rhymes, &c.—In which sense it stands opposed to verse.
The word comes from the Latin prosa, which some will have derived from the Hebrew poras, which signifies expendit: others deduce it from the Latin prosa, of prosus, "going forwards;" by way of opposition to versa, or "turning backwards," as is necessary in writing.