PRESUME • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Presume

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/prɪzˈum/ Listen

verb

Presume v. t. (past & past part. presumed; pres. part. presuming)

To assume or take beforehand; esp., to do or undertake without leave or authority previously obtained. "Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner?" "Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve."

To take or suppose to be true, or entitled to belief, without examination or proof, or on the strength of probability; to take for granted; to infer; to suppose. "Every man is to be presumed innocent till he is proved to be guilty." "What rests but that the mortal sentence pass,... Which he presumes already vain and void, Because not yet inflicted?"

Presume v. i.

To suppose or assume something to be, or to be true, on grounds deemed valid, though not amounting to proof; to believe by anticipation; to infer; as, we may presume too far.

To venture, go, or act, by an assumption of leave or authority not granted; to go beyond what is warranted by the circumstances of the case; to venture beyond license; to take liberties; often with on or upon before the ground of confidence. "Do not presume too much upon my love." "This man presumes upon his parts."

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Etymology of 'Presume'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Presume" Quotes from Famous Books

... to tyranny here below, has its origin in, and is first committed by, the power that makes and forever recreates man. When you have caught and hung all these human rebels, you have accomplished nothing but your own guilt, for you have not struck at the fountain-head. You presume to contend with a foe against whom West Point cadets and rifled cannon point not. Can all the art of the cannon-founder tempt matter to turn against its maker? Is the form in which the founder thinks he casts it more essential than the constitution ...

— A Plea for Captain John Brown • Henry David Thoreau

... he said to himself. "I can get on without them. I presume, if all our hearts were laid open, mine would be found quite as good as theirs. As for Perkins and Marvel, they needn't set themselves up over me. I think I know them. Men who cut as close as they do in dealing, generally ...

— Lessons in Life, For All Who Will Read Them • T. S. Arthur

... is that the question is one of the construction, not of the verification, of facts; of prophecy for the future, rather than of bare affirmation or negation. No one can presume to determine such a question without a knowledge of how human beings have been accustomed to act under similar circumstances. Illumination of that sort Irish history and the contemporary Irish problem ...

— The Framework of Home Rule • Erskine Childers

... I spoke well to-day it was because I was sorry for the poor, ignorant men who listened to the silly talk of a fool as if it were a revelation from Mount Sinai, but I could never presume to have any influence in Parliament or in the fate ...

— The Malady of the Century • Max Nordau

... of his friends, a man indeed not remarkable for moderation in prosperity, left a message, that he desired to see him about nine in the morning. Savage knew that his intention was to assist him, but was very much disgusted, that he should presume to prescribe the hour of his attendance; and therefore ...

— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753),Vol. V. • Theophilus Cibber

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