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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
presume
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be presumed dead (=used when someone is missing and people think they are certainly dead)
▪ The two boys have not been seen since they fell into the river, and are now presumed dead.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
only
▪ I can only presume that Lucker has failed in the macho stakes.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Many scientists presumed the new damage to the forests to be the result of higher levels of pollution.
▪ The committee presumed that its decisions would be carried out.
▪ The defendant is presumed innocent until proved guilty.
▪ The price includes all your transportation and hotels, I presume?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As a 19 year-old student, I presume I am one of these.
▪ Bhagat Singh, the presumed killer, eluded arrest and quickly achieved the status of hero.
▪ It presumes that reality is dynamic rather than static, and therefore seeks relationships between ideas, to aim at synthesis.
▪ One presumes his wife Eimear knew that when she married him.
▪ Persons leaving a Communist country were normally presumed to be fleeing persecution.
▪ They say Mind presumed an inquiry would involve the families and those advising them and we were astonished when it did not.
▪ This, she presumed, was life.
▪ Was this the treatment Roman meted out to any female who presumed a little too much, grew a little too possessive?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Presume

Presume \Pre*sume"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Presumed; p. pr. & vb. n. Presuming.] [F. pr['e]sumer, L. praesumere, praesumptum; prae before + sumere to take. See Assume, Redeem.]

  1. To assume or take beforehand; esp., to do or undertake without leave or authority previously obtained.

    Dare he presume to scorn us in this manner?
    --Shak.

    Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve.
    --Milton.

  2. 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 vain and void, Because not yet inflicted?
    --Milton.

Presume

Presume \Pre*sume"\, v. i.

  1. To suppose or assume something to be, or to be true, on grounds deemed valid, though not amounting to proof; to believe by anticipation; to infer; as, we may presume too far.

  2. To venture, go, or act, by an assumption of leave or authority not granted; to go beyond what is warranted by the circumstances of the case; to venture beyond license; to take liberties; -- often with on or upon before the ground of confidence.

    Do not presume too much upon my love.
    --Shak.

    This man presumes upon his parts.
    --Locke.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
presume

late 14c., "to take upon oneself, to take liberty," also "to take for granted, presuppose," especially overconfidently, from Old French presumer (12c.) and directly from Latin praesumere "anticipate," in Late Latin, "assume" (see presumption). Related: Presumed; presumedly; presuming.

Wiktionary
presume

vb. 1 (context transitive now rare English) To perform, do (something) without authority; to lay claim to without permission. (from 14th c.) 2 (context transitive English) With infinitive object: to be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission. (from 14th c.) 3 (context transitive English) To assume to be true (without proof); to take for granted, to suppose. (from 14th c.) 4 (context intransitive English) To be presumptuous; with (term: on), (term: upon), to take advantage (of), to take liberties (with). (from 15th c.)

WordNet
presume
  1. v. take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof; "I assume his train was late" [syn: assume, take for granted]

  2. take upon oneself; act presumptuously, without permission; "How dare you call my lawyer?" [syn: make bold, dare]

  3. constitute reasonable evidence for; "A restaurant bill presumes the consumption of food"

  4. take liberties or act with too much confidence

Usage examples of "presume".

I presume you allude only to those which may concern him, and which come addressed under cover to you.

I presume that no one will doubt that all such analogous variations are due to the several races of the pigeon having inherited from a common parent the same constitution and tendency to variation, when acted on by similar unknown influences.

As all these marks are characteristic of the parent rock-pigeon, I presume that no one will doubt that this is a case of reversion, and not of a new yet analogous variation appearing in the several breeds.

Again I felt annoyance at such presumption, for one summoned by a war leader did not presume to take.

Omar himself confessed from the pulpit, that if any Mussulman should hereafter presume to anticipate the suffrage of his brethren, both the elector and the elected would be worthy of death.

William had nodded off from the opium, I presume, but his bistoury was lying about, because he used it to scrape the spindle between bowls.

Les occasions ne lui ont cependant pas manque, ce qui ne doit pas te surprendre, beau garcon, officier brillant, heritier presume de Gaston, il avait tout pour faire un gendre et un mari desirables.

It was presumed, as it turned out almost rightly, that a series of scholarships and bursaries would carry him through senior school and Oxford or Cambridge.

But as it was found impossible to extort any discovery of this mysterious transaction, it seems incumbent on us either to presume the innocence, or to admire the resolution, of the sufferers.

On reaching the premises, they found the mutilated body of a woman, presumed to be Erika Mangier herself.

Fathom presume upon these misconstructions, that she at length divested her tongue of all restraint, and behaved in such a manner, that the young lady, confounded and incensed at her indecency and impudence, rebuked her with great severity, and commanded her to reform her discourse, on pain of being dismissed with disgrace from her service.

I am satisfied that it is perfectly safe to continue full speed ahead with Montayne, and I presume everyone else agrees.

They looked to see issue some sailor seized for whistling of a Sabbath, some profane peasant who had presumed to wear pattens in church, some profaner peasant who had not doffed his hat to the Connetable, or some slip-shod militiaman who had gone to parade in his sabots, thereby offending the red-robed dignity of the Royal Court.

If, however, the change is within the range of what the relic might predictably undergo himself, continuity of individuality is presumed.

And I would not dare to give you permission to sail the Principessa on my own, since I presume that is why you have come.