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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. Blackstone. What rests but that the mortal sentence pass, . . . Which he presumes already…

r positive proof of the fact, but grounded on circumstantial or probable evidence which entitles it to belief. Burrill. Best. Wharton. -- Presumption of law (Law), a postulate applied in advance to all cases of a particular class; e. g., the presumption of innocence and of regularity of records. Such a presumption is…

To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim. Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend. Dryden.

One who lays claim, or asserts a title (to something); a claimant. Specifically,

As by right or title; arrogantly; presumptuously. Collier.

The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title. The arrogant pretensions of Glengarry contributed to protract the discussion. Macaulay.

The omission by a testator of some one of his heirs who is entitled to a portion. Bouvier.

; victorious. Brennus told the Roman embassadors, that prevalent arms were as good as any title. Sir W. Raleigh.

r belongs to the eldest son, and in the royal family the eldest son of the sovereign is entitled to the throne by primogeniture. In exceptional cases, among the female children, the crown descends by right of primogeniture to the eldest daughter only and her issue. Blackstone.

A title belonging to persons of high rank, differing in different countries. In England it belongs to dukes, marquises, and earls, but is given to members of the royal family only. In Italy a prince is inferior to a duke as a member of a particular order of nobility; in Spain he is always one of the royal family.…

The territory or jurisdiction of a prince; or the country which gives title to a prince; as, the principality of Wales.

council. -- Privy purse, moneys set apart for the personal use of the monarch; also, the title of the person having charge of these moneys. [Eng.] Macaulay. -- Privy seal or signed, the seal which the king uses in grants, etc., which are to pass the great seal, or which the uses in matters of subordinate consequence…

A preliminary course or publication; -- used esp. in the titles of elementary works.

The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a thing; ownership; title. Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood. Shak. Shall man assume a property in man Wordsworth.

A proprietor or owner; one who has exclusive title to a thing; one who possesses, or holds the title to, a thing in his own right. Fuller.

One who has the legal right or exclusive title to anything, whether in possession or not; an owner; as, the proprietor of farm or of a mill.

Individual right to hold property; ownership by personal title; property. [Obs.] "Onles this propriety be exiled." Robynson (More's Utopia). So are the proprieties of a wife to be disposed of by her lord, and yet all are for her provisions, it being a part of his need to refresh and supply hers. Jer. Taylor.…

as the same relation to a college, religious order, etc. Lord Protector (Eng. Hist.), the title of Oliver Cromwell as supreme governor of the British Commonwealth (1653-1658).

grand; splendid; magnificent; admirable; ostentatious. "Of shadow proud." Chapman. "Proud titles." Shak. " The proud temple's height." Dryden. Till tower, and dome, and bridge-way proud Are mantled with a golden cloud. Keble.

nearness, either in place, blood, or alliance. If he plead proximity of blood That empty title is with ease withstood. Dryden.