guess

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

guess, v. t. [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.].

•  To form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture.  [1913 Webster]

  "First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess."  [1913 Webster]
•  To judge or form an opinion of, from reasons that seem preponderating, but are not decisive.  [1913 Webster]

  "We may then guess how far it was from his design."  [1913 Webster]

  "Of ambushed men, whom, by their arms and dress,
  To be Taxallan enemies I guess."  [1913 Webster]
•  To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly; as, he who guesses the riddle shall have the ring; he has guessed my designs.  [1913 Webster]
•  To hit upon or reproduce by memory.  [1913 Webster]

  "Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them."  [1913 Webster]
•  To think; to suppose; to believe; to imagine; -- followed by an objective clause.  [1913 Webster]

  "Not all together; better far, I guess,
  That we do make our entrance several ways."  [1913 Webster]

  "But in known images of life I guess
  The labor greater."

Syn. -- To conjecture; suppose; surmise; suspect; divine; think; imagine; fancy.

guess, v. i. 

 To make a guess or random judgment; to conjecture; -- with at, about, etc.  [1913 Webster]
"This is the place, as well as I may guess."  [1913 Webster]

guess, n. 

 An opinion as to anything, formed without sufficient or decisive evidence or grounds; an attempt to hit upon the truth by a random judgment; a conjecture; a surmise.  [1913 Webster]
"A poet must confess
His art 's like physic -- but a happy guess."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

guess, v. & n.
--v.
1 tr. (often absol.) estimate without calculation or measurement, or on the basis of inadequate data.
2 tr. (often foll. by that etc. + clause, or to + infin.) form a hypothesis or opinion about; conjecture; think likely (cannot guess how you did it; guess them to be Italian).
3 tr. conjecture or estimate correctly by guessing (you have to guess the weight).
4 intr. (foll. by at) make a conjecture about.
--n. an estimate or conjecture reached by guessing.

Idiom

anybody's (or anyone's) guess something very vague or difficult to determine. I guess colloq. I think it likely; I suppose. keep a person guessing colloq. withhold information.

Derivative

guessable adj. guesser n.

Etymology

ME gesse, of uncert. orig.: cf. OSw. gissa, MLG, MDu. gissen: f. the root of GET v.

THESAURUS

guess

account as, answer, appraise, appreciate, assess, assume, assumption, be afraid, believe, blind bargain, blind guess, bold conjecture, borderline case, bottom, call, cast a horoscope, cast a nativity, chance, class, clear up, conceive, conclude, conjecture, consider, contingency, crack, daresay, debug, decipher, decode, deduce, deem, disentangle, divine, do, dope, dope out, double contingency, dowse for water, esteem, estimate, evaluate, expect, explain, fancy, fathom, feel, feeling, figure, figure out, find out, find the answer, find the solution, forebode, forecast, foresee, foretell, form an estimate, fortune-tell, gamble, gauge, get, get right, give a guess, give an appreciation, guess right, guesstimate, guesswork, hariolate, have a hunch, have an idea, have an impression, have an inkling, have it, have the idea, hazard a conjecture, hit it, hold, hold as, hunch, hypothesis, hypothesize, imagine, interpret, judge, judgement, look upon as, maintain, make a prediction, make a prognosis, make a prophecy, make an estimation, make out, mark, measure, open question, open the lock, opine, perhaps, piece of guesswork, plumb, postulate, predict, prefigure, presage, presume, pretend, prize, prognosticate, prophesy, psych, psych out, puzzle out, question, rank, rate, ravel, ravel out, read palms, read tea leaves, read the future, reason, reckon, regard, resolve, riddle, risk assuming, rough guess, set down as, shot, sight-unseen transaction, solve, soothsay, sort out, speculate, speculation, stab, suppose, supposition, surmise, suspect, suspicion, take, take for, take it, tell fortunes, tell the future, tentatively suggest, theory, think, toss-up, touch and go, trow, undecided issue, undo, unlock, unravel, unriddle, unscramble, untangle, untwist, unverified supposition, unweave, valuate, value, vaticinate, venture a guess, view as, wager, ween, wild guess, work, work out

ROGET THESAURUS

guess

Supposition

N supposition, assumption, assumed position, postulation, condition, presupposition, hypothesis, blue sky hypothesis, postulate, postulatum, theory, thesis, theorem, data, proposition, position, proposal, presumption, divination, conjecture, guess, guesswork, speculation, rough guess, shot, shot in the dark, conjecturality, surmise, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, estimate, approximation (nearness), inkling, suggestion, hint, intimation, notion, impression, bare supposition, vague supposition, loose supposition, loose suggestion, association of ideas, (analogy), metonym, metonymy, simile (metaphor), conceit, idea, thought, original idea, invention (imagination), supposing, given, mooted, postulatory, assumed, supposititious, suppositive, suppositious, gratuitous, speculative, conjectural, hypothetical, theoretical, academic, supposable, presumptive, putative, suppositional, suggestive, allusive, if, if so be, an, on the supposition, ex hypothesi, in the case, in the event of, quasi, as if, provided, perhaps, for aught one knows.

VB suppose, conjecture, surmise, suspect, guess, divine, theorize, presume, presurmise, presuppose, assume, fancy, wis, take it, give a guess, speculate, believe, dare say, take it into one's head, take for granted, imagine, put forth, propound, propose, start, put a case, submit, move, make a motion, hazard out, throw out a suggestion, put forward a suggestion, put forward conjecture, allude to, suggest, hint, put it into one's head, suggest itself, run in the head, marvel if, wonder if, wonder whether.