Prompt /(prŏmt; 215)/

1. Ready and quick to act as occasion demands; meeting requirements readily; not slow, dilatory, or hesitating in decision or action; responding on the instant; immediate; as, prompt in obedience or compliance; -- said of persons.

   Very discerning and prompt in giving orders.

   Tell him I am prompt To lay my crown at's feet.

   And you, perhaps, too prompt in your replies.

2. Done or rendered quickly, readily, or immediately; given without delay or hesitation; -- said of conduct; as, prompt assistance.

   When Washington heard the voice of his country in distress, his obedience was prompt.

3. Easy; unobstructed. [Obs.]

   The reception of the light into the body of the building was very prompt.

1. A limit of time given for payment of an account for produce purchased, this limit varying with different goods. See Prompt-note. (Com.)

   To cover any probable difference of price which might arise before the expiration of the prompt, which for this article [tea] is three months.

imp. & p. p. Prompted; p. pr. & vb. n. Prompting

1. To assist or induce the action of; to move to action; to instigate; to incite.

   God first . . . prompted on the infirmities of the infant world by temporal prosperity.

2. To suggest; to dictate.

   And whispering angles prompt her golden dreams.

3. To remind, as an actor or an orator, of words or topics forgotten.