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judgment in regard to any point of knowledge or action. Opinion is when the assent of the understanding is so far gained by evidence of probability, that it rather inclines to one persussion than to another, yet not without a mixture of incertainty or doubting. Sir M. Hale. I can not put off my opinion so easily. Shak.…

or joining together their money, goods, labor, and skill, or any or all of them, under an understanding that there shall be a communion of profit between them, and for the purpose of carrying on a legal trade, business, or adventure. Kent. Story.

k sincerely. Shak. Till we ourselves see it with our own eyes, and perceive it by our own understandings, we are still in the dark. Locke.

hat was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view. Locke.

The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.

Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. "The purpose is perspicuous." Shak. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness, n.

eful, in distinction from ideal or theoretical; as, practical chemistry. "Man's practical understanding." South. "For all practical purposes." Macaulay.

introductory to the main subject; to offer previously, as something to explain or aid in understanding what follows; especially, to lay down premises or first propositions, on which rest the subsequent reasonings. I premise these particulars that the reader may know that I enter upon it as a very ungrateful task. Addi…

o shuffle; to quibble; as, he prevaricates in his statement. He prevaricates with his own understanding. South.

Going before; preceding. [Obs.] Any previous counsel or preventive understanding. Cudworth.

Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.

conclusive evidence; demonstration. I'll have some proof. Shak. It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases. Emerson.

On condition; by stipulation; with the understanding; if; -- usually followed by that; as, provided that nothing in this act shall prejudice the rights of any person whatever. Provided the deductions are logical, they seem almost indifferent to their truth. G. H. Lewes.

A combining form from Gr. the soul, the mind, the understanding; as, psychology.

nt make use of, and understand only by common agreement, assume a new air and life in the understanding, when you trace them to their radicals, where you find every word strongly stamped with nature; full of energy, meaning, character, painting, and poetry. Cleland.

rt" ( Etym: [F.], in accord, harmony, or sympathy; having a mutual, especially a private, understanding; in mesmerism, in that relation of sympathy which permits influence or communication.

ers to; as, he had, or would, rather go than stay. "I had rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousands words in an unknown tongue." 1 Cor. xiv. 19. See Had rather, under Had.

Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with reason or understanding; reasoning. It is our glory and happiness to have a rational nature. Law.

The doctrine or system of those who deduce their religious opinions from reason or the understanding, as distinct from, or opposed to, revelation.

it is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty. We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason. P. Browne. In common and popular discours…