proceed

present singular third person proceeds · participle present proceeding · participle past proceeded · past proceeded · alternative obsolete procede

1. intransitiveTo move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to carry on.

   to proceed on a journey

   2 more examples

   Having completed their task, Fireman Page telephoned from a lineside box to the next signal cabin, briefly reported the incident and said that, as no high explosive had dropped and the track was safe, they proposed proceeding "at caution".

   1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226

   [...] and on the Saturday heavy seas pounded the W.R. on its exposed coastal stretch between Dawlish and Teignmouth, loosening the ballast and forcing trains to proceed with extreme caution.

   1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The railways and the Devon floods”, in Trains Illustrated, page 709

2. intransitiveTo pass from one point, topic, or stage, to another.

   to proceed with a story or argument

   2 more examples

   Work is proceeding at a steady gait.

   There the missionaries learned that they were to stay for a longer period, and they were lodged in a shed surrounded by rice fields. This was different from what they had expected, because they had been told in Canton that Father Ts’ai had arranged for a place in Hsiang-t’an. They therefore wished to proceed to Hsiang-t’an, but since that was impossible under the circumstances, they asked Liu Shêng-tuan to be their messenger to Father Liu asking him to come to them.

   1948, Bernward H. Willeke, Imperial Government and Catholic Missions in China During the Years 1784-1785, St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, →OCLC, →OL, page 31

3. intransitiveTo come from; to have as its source or origin.

   Light proceeds from the sun.

4. intransitiveTo go on in an orderly or regulated manner; to begin and carry on a series of acts or measures; to act methodically.

   He that proceeds upon others Principles in his Enquiry into any Sciences, though he be reſolv’d to examine them and judge of them freely, does yet at leaſt put himſelf on that ſide, and poſt himſelf in a Party which he will not quit ’till he be beaten out; […]

   a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, § 34, pages 105–106

5. intransitiveTo be transacted; to take place; to occur.

   And he will (after his ſowre faſhion) tell you What hath proceeded worthy note to day.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 111, column 1

6. intransitiveTo be applicable or effective; to be valid.

   For it [this rule] only proceeds and takes place, when a Perſon cannot of common Right condemn or bind another by his Sentence; […]

   1726, John Ayliffe, “Of Absolution”, in Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC, page 18

7. intransitivelawTo begin and carry on a legal process.

   “Gentlemen, shall we proceed?” the judge said. From the beginning, Judge Fong appeared bored at Levine's coaxing remarks.

   2005, Rodney Stich, Disavow: Sage of Betrayal

8. intransitiveTo take an academic degree.