DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
In·fer v. t. [imp. & p. p. Inferred p. pr. & vb. n. Inferring.]
1. To bring on; to induce; to occasion. [Obs.]
2. To offer, as violence. [Obs.]
3. To bring forward, or employ as an argument; to adduce; to allege; to offer. [Obs.]
Full well hath Clifford played the orator,
Inferring arguments of mighty force. --Shak.
4. To derive by deduction or by induction; to conclude or surmise from facts or premises; to accept or derive, as a consequence, conclusion, or probability; as, I inferred his determination from his silence.
To infer is nothing but by virtue of one proposition laid down as true, to draw in another as true. --Locke.
Such opportunities always infer obligations. --Atterbury.
5. To show; to manifest; to prove. [Obs.]
The first part is not the proof of the second, but rather contrariwise, the second inferreth well the first. --Sir T. More.
This doth infer the zeal I had to see him. --Shak.
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infer
v 1: reason by deduction; establish by deduction [syn: deduce,
deduct, derive]
2: draw from specific cases for more general cases [syn: generalize,
generalise, extrapolate]
3: conclude by reasoning; in logic [syn: deduce]
4: guess correctly; solve by guessing; "He guessed the right
number of beans in the jar and won the prize" [syn: guess]
5: believe to be the case; "I understand you have no previous
experience?" [syn: understand]
[also: inferring, inferred]