Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Infer

In-fer′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Inferred
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Inferring
.]
[L.
inferre
to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref.
in-
in +
ferre
to carry, bring: cf. F.
inférer
. See 1 st
Bear
.]
1.
To bring on; to induce; to occasion.
[Obs.]
Harvey.
2.
To offer, as violence.
[Obs.]
Spenser.
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.
Shakespeare
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.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Infer

INFER'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. infero; in and fero, to bear or produce.]
1.
Literally, to bring on; to induce. [Little used.]
2.
To deduce; to draw or derive, as a fact or consequence. From the character of God, as creator and governor of the world, we infer the indispensable obligation of all his creatures to obey his commands. We infer one proposition or truth from another, when we perceive that if one is true, the other must be true also.
3.
To offer; to produce. [Not used.]