Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Suppose in Webster's 1913 dictionary

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

WEBSTER 1913verb
Suppose

[F. supposer; pref. sub- under + poser to place; -- corresponding in meaning to L. supponere, suppositum, to put under, to substitute, falsify, counterfeit. See Pose.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordsuppose
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[F. supposer; pref. sub- under + poser to place; -- corresponding in meaning to L. supponere, suppositum, to put under, to substitute, falsify, counterfeit. See Pose.]
Selected historical definitionTo represent to one's self, or state to another, not as true or real, but as if so, and with a view to some consequence or application which the reality would involve or admit of; to imagine or admit 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?
Signed record IDwebster1913-suppose-verb-a68cf088556f
Source locatorCIDE.S, paragraph 24339; Gutenberg eBook 668
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 668Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "suppose" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[F. supposer; pref. sub- under + poser to place; -- corresponding in meaning to L. supponere, suppositum, to put under, to substitute, falsify, counterfeit. See Pose.]" The selected historical definition says: "To represent to one's self, or state to another, not as true or real, but as if so, and with a view to some consequence or application which the reality would involve or admit of; to imagine or admit 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?"

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 S records

Every card owns a different source record and historical sense.

adjective

Still

[OE. stille, AS. stille; akin to D. stil, OS. & OHG. stilli, G. still, Dan. stille, Sw. stilla, and to E. stall; from the idea of coming to a stand, or halt. Cf. Still, adv.]

Webster 1913 exact recordverb

Support

[F. supporter, L. supportare to carry on, to convey, in LL., to support, sustain; sub under + portare to carry. See Port demeanor.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Season

[OE. sesoun, F. saison, properly, the sowing time, fr. L. satio a sowing, a planting, fr. serere, satum, to sow, plant; akin to E. sow, v., to scatter, as seed.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Story

[OE. storie, OF. estoire, F. histoire, fr. L. historia. See History.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Single

[L. singulus, a dim. from the root in simplex simple; cf. OE. & OF. sengle, fr. L. singulus. See Simple, and cf. Singular.]

Webster 1913 exact record

Browse released S records - browse all historical records.