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dmit to exist, for the sake of argument or illustration; to assume to be true; as, let us suppose the earth to be the center of the system, what would be the result Suppose they take offence without a cause. Shak. When we have as great assurance that a thing is, as we could possibly, supposing it were, we ought not to…

One who supposes.

To suppose beforehand; to imply as antecedent; to take for granted; to assume; as, creation presupposes a creator. Each [kind of knowledge] presupposes many necessary things learned in other sciences, and known beforehand. Hooker.

Applied to knowledge and conceptions assumed, or presupposed, as prior to experience, in order to make experience rational or possible. A priori, that is, form these necessities of the mind or forms of thinking, which, though first revealed to us by experience, must yet have preëxisted in order to make experience possi…

The supposed origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents; spontaneous generation; -- called also abiogeny, and opposed to biogenesis. I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of abiogen…

ystical word or collocation of letters written as in the figure. Worn on an amulet it was supposed to ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon.

Pertaining to a race supposed to have lived in Babylonia before the Assyrian conquest. -- Ac*ca"di*an, n., Ac"cad, n. Sayce.

ernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf. Shak.

A supposed metal, said by Phipson to be contained in commercial zinc; -- so called because certain of its compounds are darkened by exposure to light.

statement made by another, and distinguishable from a confession in that an admission presupposes prior inquiry by another, but a confession may be made without such inquiry.

rks, or selections; a commonplace book; also, commentaries or notes. These parchments are supposed to have been St. Paul's adversaria. Bp. Bull.

An unexpected subsequent event; something disagreeable happening after an affair is supposed to be at an end. Spenser.

eolithic and neolithic), the Bronze age, and the Iron age. During the Age of Stone man is supposed to have employed stone for weapons and implements. See Augustan, Brazen, Golden, Heroic, Middle.

ting Yesso, the Kooril Islands etc., in the northern part of the empire of Japan, by some supposed to have been the progenitors of the Japanese. The Ainos are stout and short, with hairy bodies.

tance which occurs in minute grains ("protein granules") in maturing seeds and tubers; -- supposed to be a modification of protoplasm.

e of a mildly pungent taste, and agreeably aromatic; Jamaica pepper; pimento. It has been supposed to combine the flavor of cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves; and hence the name. The name is also given to other aromatic shrubs; as, the Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus); wild allspice (Lindera benzoin), called also s…

A reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned; a covert indication; indirect reference; a hint.

An animal of Peru (Lama paco), having long, fine, wooly hair, supposed by some to be a domesticated variety of the llama.

; specif., a reillumination sometimes observed after the summits have passed into shadow, supposed to be due to a curving downward (refraction) of the light rays from the west resulting from the cooling of the air.

An imaginary flower supposed never to fade. [Poetic]