presume

present singular third person presumes · participle present presuming · participle past presumed · past presumed · alternative præsume

1. transitiveTo be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission [with to (+ infinitive)].First known use 14th c.

   I don't want to pretend to be an authority on this line of business, so I would never presume to tell you how to run your own company.

   1 more example

   There were no women at the birth of the International Gay Association in Coventry, England in 1978. The men there decided they would like lesbians to join; they would not presume to formulate aims for them but would adjust the organization if and when women joined it.

   1982 August 21, Sylvia Barren, “Women and the IGA: A History of Struggle”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 6, page 3

2. archaictransitiveTo perform, do (something) without authority; to lay claim to without permission.First known use 14th c.

   Don't make the decision yourself and presume too much.

3. transitiveTo assume or suggest to be true (without proof); to take for granted, to suppose.First known use 14th c.

   Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

   1 more example

   Paw-prints in the snow allow us to presume a visit from next door's cat.

   Synonyms: suppose

4. transitiveTo take as a premise; to assume for the sake of argument.

   If we presume that human cloning may one day become a mundane, everyday reality, then maybe it's time to start thinking more positively about our soon-to-arrive genetically engineered pseudo-siblings.

   2011 February 5, John Patterson, The Guardian

5. intransitiveTo impose (on) for one's advantage; to be presumptuous; to take advantage (of); to take liberties (with) [with on or upon].First known use 15th c.

   Thanks, but I can't accept the money; I would not want to presume on the generosity of a stranger'

   3 more examples

   Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain; Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again.

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 22”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

   Emma was not required, by any subsequent discovery, to retract her ill opinion of Mrs. Elton. Her observation had been pretty correct. Such as Mrs. Elton appeared to her on this second interview, such she appeared whenever they met again,—self-important, presuming, familiar, ignorant, and ill-bred.

   1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 15

   Piliso then vented his anger on us, accusing us of lying to him. He said we had presumed on his hospitality and the good name of the regent.

   1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 75