The verb prostrate means "to make helpless or defenseless." Illness, injury, food poisoning, grief — any of these things can prostrate people, or lying down in a helpless position.
The word prostrate traces back to the Latin word prostratus, meaning “thrown down.” If you are prostrate, you feel thrown down and laid flat. It can describe lying on the ground in a helpless position, or it can be used to describe someone who has been overcome or made unable to function, such as someone who is prostrated by grief or illness.
