Part 5811

<p><b>1.</b> <def>To bring on; to induce; to occasion.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<i>Harvey.</i>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To offer, as violence.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<i>Spenser.</i>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To bring forward, or employ as an argument; to adduce; to allege; to offer.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>Full well hath Clifford played the orator, <b>Inferring</b> arguments of mighty force. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>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; to imply; <as>as, I <ex>inferred</ex> his determination from his silence</as>.</def>

<blockquote>To <b>infer</b> is nothing but by virtue of one proposition laid down as true, to draw in another as true. <i>Locke.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Such opportunities always <b>infer</b> obligations. <i>Atterbury.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>To show; to manifest; to prove.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>The first part is not the proof of the second, but rather contrariwise, the second <b>inferreth</b> well the first. <i>Sir T. More.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>This doth <b>infer</b> the zeal I had to see him. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<hr> <page="759"> Page 759<p>

<h1>Inferable</h1> <Xpage=759>

<hw>In*fer"a*ble</hw> <tt>(?; 277)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Capable of being inferred or deduced from premises.</def> <altsp>[Written also <asp>inferrible</asp>.]</altsp>

<i>H. Spencer.</i>

<blockquote>A sufficient argument . . . is <b>inferable</b> from these premises. <i>Burke.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Inference</h1> <Xpage=759>

<hw>In"fer*ence</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[From <er>Infer</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>The act or process of inferring by deduction or induction.</def>

<blockquote>Though it may chance to be right in the conclusions, it is yet unjust and mistaken in the method of <b>inference</b>. <i>Glanvill.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>That which inferred; a truth or proposition drawn from another which is admitted or supposed to be true; a conclusion; a deduction.</def>

<i>Milton.</i>

<blockquote>These <b>inferences</b>, or conclusions, are the effects of reasoning, and the three propositions, taken all together, are called syllogism, or argument. <i>I. Watts.</i></blockquote>

<syn>Syn. -- Conclusion; deduction; consequence.</syn> <usage> -- <er>Inference</er>, <er>Conclusion</er>. An <i>inference</i> is literally that which is <i>brought in</i>; and hence, a deduction or induction from premises, -- something which follows as certainly or probably true. A <i>conclusion</i> is stronger than an <i>inference</i>; it <i>shuts us up</i> to the result, and terminates inquiry. We <i>infer</i> what is particular or probable; we <i>conclude</i> what is certain. In a chain of reasoning we have many <i>inferences</i>, which lead to the ultimate <i>conclusion</i>. "An <i>inference</i> is a proposition which is perceived to be true, because of its connection with some known fact." "When something is simply affirmed to be true, it is called a <i>proposition</i>; after it has been found to be true by several reasons or arguments, it is called a <i>conclusion</i>." <i>I. Taylor.</i></usage>

<h1>Inferential</h1> <Xpage=759>

<hw>In`fer*en"tial</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Deduced or deducible by inference.</def> "<i>Inferential</i> proofs."

<i>J. S. Mill.</i>