prospect

Etymology

From Latin prospectus, past participle of prospicere (“to look forward”), from pro (“before, forward”) + specere, spicere (“to look, to see”), equivalent to pro- + -spect.

noun

1. The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
2. A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
   I went to Putney, and other places on the Thames, to take prospects in crayon, to carry into France, where I thought to have them engraved. 1649-06-20, John Evelyn, edited by William Bray, John Evelyn's Diary, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, published 1850, page 251
   She felt all the honest pride and complacency which her alliance with the present and future proprietor could fairly warrant, as she viewed the respectable size and style of the building, its suitable, becoming, characteristic situation, low and sheltered—its ample gardens stretching down to meadows washed by a stream, of which the Abbey, with all the old neglect of prospect, had scarcely a sight ... 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 6
   The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead. 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7
3. A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
4. Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
5. The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
   Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life? 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious
6. The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
   The result, therefore, of this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,— no prospect of an end. 1788, James Hutton, Theory of the earth, page 166
   And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier. September 2, 2011, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC
   It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries. 2013-06-07, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19
7. A hope; a hopeful.
   The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott. November 10, 2011, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph
8. (sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
9. (sales) A potential client or customer.
10. (music) The façade of an organ.

verb

1. (intransitive) To search, as for gold.
   Among the ancient sites in the Taklamakan Desert which are frequented by Khotan "treasure seekers," and which the prospecting parties sent out by me had visited, none seemed to offer better opportunities for systematic excavations than the one known to them as Dandan-Uilik. 1904, M. A. Stein, “A Journey of Geographical and Archaeological Exploration in Chinese Turkestan”, in Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution 1903, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, pages 762–763
2. (geology, mining) To determine which minerals or metals are present in a location.