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What is "ascribing"

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ascribing
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ascribing

Ascribe \As*cribe"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ascribed; p. pr. & vb. n. Ascribing.] [L. ascribere, adscribere, to ascribe; ad + scribere to write: cf. OF. ascrire. See Scribe.]

  1. To attribute, impute, or refer, as to a cause; as, his death was ascribed to a poison; to ascribe an effect to the right cause; to ascribe such a book to such an author.

    The finest [speech] that is ascribed to Satan in the whole poem.
    --Addison.

  2. To attribute, as a quality, or an appurtenance; to consider or allege to belong. Syn: To Ascribe, Attribute, Impute. Usage: Attribute denotes,

    1. To refer some quality or attribute to a being; as, to attribute power to God.

    2. To refer something to its cause or source; as, to attribute a backward spring to icebergs off the coast. Ascribe is used equally in both these senses, but involves a different image. To impute usually denotes to ascribe something doubtful or wrong, and hence, in general literature, has commonly a bad sense; as, to impute unworthy motives. The theological sense of impute is not here taken into view.

      More than good-will to me attribute naught.
      --Spenser.

      Ascribes his gettings to his parts and merit.
      --Pope.

      And fairly quit him of the imputed blame.
      --Spenser.

Wiktionary
ascribing

vb. (present participle of ascribe English)

Usage examples of "ascribing".

But as some decent mixture of prodigy and fable has, in every age, been supposed to reflect a becoming majesty on the origin of great cities, the emperor was desirous of ascribing his resolution, not so much to the uncertain counsels of human policy, as to the infallible and eternal decrees of divine wisdom.

Those who have reported their opinions to us, from the earliest Jesuit missionaries to the latest investigators of their mental characteristics, concur in ascribing to them a deep trust in a life to come, a cheerful view of its conditions, and a remarkable freedom from the dread of dying.

That we do not err in ascribing this belief to Paul we might summon the whole body of the Fathers to testify in almost unbroken phalanx, from Polycarp to St.

And though this reasoning may contradict the systems of many philosophers, in ascribing necessity to the determinations of the will, we shall find, upon reflection, that they dissent from it in words only, not in their real sentiment.

Or were it ever so much a perfection, the ascribing of it to the Supreme Being, where it appears not to have been really exerted, to the full, in his works, savours more of flattery and panegyric, than of just reasoning and sound philosophy.

Or were it ever so much a perfection, the ascribing of it to the Supreme Being, where it appears not to have been really exerted, to the full, in his works, savours more of flattery and panegyric, than of just reasoning and sound philosophy.

Half-starved mud-scrabblers incapable of distinguishing dream from reality, ascribing crop-failure, blight and murrain to supernatural beings, imagining they could protect themselves by sacrificing most of what remained to themwhereupon, of course, weakness and fatigue allowed dreams to invade their minds ever further.