Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Guess in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels guess as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Guess

[OE. gessen; akin to Dan. gisse, Sw. gissa, Icel. gizha, D. gissen: cf. Dan. giette to guess, Icel. geta to get, to guess. Probably originally, to try to get, and akin to E. get. See Get.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordguess
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[OE. gessen; akin to Dan. gisse, Sw. gissa, Icel. gizha, D. gissen: cf. Dan. giette to guess, Icel. geta to get, to guess. Probably originally, to try to get, and akin to E. get. See Get.]
Selected historical definitionTo form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture.
Signed record IDwebster1913-guess-verb-37d48daa03bc
Source locatorCIDE.G, paragraph 6556; Gutenberg eBook 663
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 663Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "guess" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. gessen; akin to Dan. gisse, Sw. gissa, Icel. gizha, D. gissen: cf. Dan. giette to guess, Icel. geta to get, to guess. Probably originally, to try to get, and akin to E. get. See Get.]" The selected historical definition says: "To form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released G records

Every card owns a different source record and historical sense.

adjective

Game

[Cf. W. cam crooked, and E. gambol, n.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Group

[F groupe, It. gruppo, groppo, cluster, bunch, packet, group; of G. origin: cf. G. kropf craw, crop, tumor, bunch. See Crop, n.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Ground

[OE. ground, grund, AS. grund; akin to D. grond, OS., G., Sw., & Dan. grund, Icel. grunnr bottom, Goth. grundus (in composition); perh. orig. meaning, dust, gravel, and if so perh. akin to E. grind.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Grand

[OE. grant, grount, OF. grant, F. grand, fr. L. grandis; perh. akin to gravis heavy, E. grave, a. Cf. Grandee.]

Webster 1913 exact recordverb

Glad

[AS. gladian. See Glad, a., and cf. Gladden, v. t.]

Webster 1913 exact record

Browse released G records - browse all historical records.