Definition of "protrude"
protrude
verb
third-person singular simple present protrudes, present participle protruding, simple past and past participle protruded
(intransitive) To extend from, above or beyond a surface or boundary; to bulge outward; to stick out.
Quotations
The old woman's face was wrinkled; her two remaining teeth protruded over her under lip; and her eyes were bright and piercing.
1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter V, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […]
Archegonia are surrounded early in their development by the juvenile perianth, through the slender beak of which the elongated neck of the fertilized archegonium protrudes.
1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, page 5
(transitive) To cause to extend from a surface or boundary; to cause to stick out.
Quotations
With thoſe that ſtretcht along the Weſtern Coaſt; / To whom the old Creonian Towns were loſt, / Where high Epidium midſt th' Hibernian Waves, / Protrudes his Head, and all their Monſters braves.
1695, Richard Blackmore, “Book IX”, in Prince Arthur. An Heroick Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchil […], page 267
(transitive) To thrust out, as through a narrow orifice or from confinement; to cause to come forth.
Quotations
Mr. Hawley's disgust at the notion of the "Pioneer" being edited by an emissary, and of Brooke becoming actively political—as if a tortoise of desultory pursuits should protrude its small head ambitiously and become rampant—was hardly equal to the annoyance felt by some members of Mr. Brooke's own family.
1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXVII, in Middlemarch […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, book (please specify |book=I to VIII)
Then […] I perceived something stir. I made a run for this, but before I reached it a brown object separated itself, rose on two muddy legs and protruded two drooping, bleeding hands.
1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter II, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901
The man protruded the tip of a white tongue, licked the place where his lips should have been, and then passed on.
1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter X, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001
(transitive, obsolete) To thrust forward; to drive or force along.
Quotations
[…] ye people standyng round about […] cried out, incontinently for the deliuerie of the Ladie, & for vengeaunce to be taken of hym, whiche so wickedly had protruded her into that daunger:
1566, William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure, London: Richard Tottell and William Jones, Volume 1, The .xlj. Nouell
[…] Palſies doe oftneſt happen upon the left ſide, if underſtood in this ſense; the moſt vigorous part protecting it ſelf, and protruding the matter upon the weaker and leſſe reſiſtive ſide.
1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Right and Left Hand”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], 4th book, page 163
For in case of general disturbance, nothing is more familiar then for several Factions, of several, and sometimes of contrary inclinations and interests, to protrude and drive on one and the same design, to several intents and purposes.
1655, Hamon L’Estrange, The Reign of King Charles, London: Edward Dod and Henry Seile, p. 169
Of pure Space then, and Solidity, there are several (amongst which, I confess my self one) who persuade themselves, they have clear and distinct Ideas; and that they can think on Space, without any thing in it, that resists, or is protruded by Body; […]
1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter IV, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], book II, page 50