1887 G. B. Shaw Let. 21 Oct. (1965) I. 176 We call the working men proles because that is exactly what they are.

1931 Ecology 12 299 The Italians..are the offspring of proles and of slaves of various races—very largely the captives of war.

1958 Observer 11 May 15/2 Even the boatswain, a ‘good prole’ who doesn't believe in unions or democracy, is afraid to take the helm.

1975 I. Murdoch Word Child 10 ‘I'm fed up with hearing the proles binding about the price of meat,’ said Freddie.

2003 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) 6 Apr. (Seven Days section) 16/6 (caption) Even those ‘toff officers’ who started as proles have mastered PR accents in order to reach the top of the army hierarchy.

1938 ‘G. Orwell’ Let. 20 Apr. in Coll. Ess. (1968) I. 314 As to the great proletarian novel, I really don't see how it's to come into existence. The stuff in Seven Shifts is written from a prole point of view, but of course as literature it's bourgeois literature.

1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four i. 12 A woman down in the prole part of the house suddenly started kicking up a fuss.

1959 News Chron. 21 Oct. 3/1 She came from prole roots in St. Pancras.

1969 ‘H. Calvin’ Chosen Instrument x. 132 Superior journalists..would think it Victorian and prole to know shorthand.

1994 Arena Sept. 86/1 The British Invasion of the States mixed English prole attitudes, Continental pop modernism and contraband rhythm and blues.