postrar

Postrar is a Spanish verb with several related senses centered on lying flat or yielding, either physically or figuratively. In its most concrete sense, postrar means to cause someone or oneself to lie face down or to lay something down flat. It can describe physical prostration, as in a person who is exhausted or defeated, or the act of placing an object in a prone position. In religious or ceremonial contexts, postrar puede refer to bowing or kneeling before a deity or authority, often expressed reflexively as postrarse ante alguien o ante una figura sagrada.

The word is commonly used both transitively and intransitively. Transitive: postrar a alguien (to lay someone flat), or postrar una persona la máquina in Spanish contexts. Intransitive: postrarse, to prostrate oneself, to bow deeply or to submit, typically followed by ante or delante de (postrarse ante el altar, postrarse ante la autoridad). Figurative usage is frequent, with postrar meaning to overwhelm, overwhelm with fatigue, illness, or calamity: la enfermedad lo ha postrado; la sequía postró al país.

Etymology: postrar derives from medieval and classical layers of the Latin verb prosternare or prosternere, meaning to throw down or lay low, passing into Spanish as postrar and postrarse. Related forms include el sustantivo postración (prostration, state of being prostrate), el adjetivo postrado (prostrate, exhausted) and el participio postrado. The gerund is postrando.

Usage notes: postrar is more formal or literary than everyday phrases for kneeling or lying down, and is common in religious, ceremonial, and rhetorical contexts. It is often found in expressions of humility, submission, or complete defeat.