presumptive, a.
(prɪˈzʌm(p)tɪv)
[a. F. présomptif, -ive (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), also obs. presumptif, ad. late L. præsumptīvus (Priscian), f. præsumpt-, ppl. stem of præsūmĕre to presume: see -ive.]
1. = presumptuous 1. Now rare or Obs.
| 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars viii. lxvii, To keepe his forwardnes Backe from presumptiue pressing. 16.. Brown (J.), There being two opinions repugnant to each another, it may not be presumptive or sceptical to doubt of both. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 418 Your presumptive emulation in a much more interesting affair. 1816 J. Evans in Monthly Mag. XLI. 124 Having so far proceeded in a strain of dictatorship, that some..may deem altogether presumptive. 1883 Schaff Hist. Ch. I. iv. xxvi. 254 He protested in presumptive modesty, when Christ would wash his feet. |
2. Giving reasonable grounds for presumption or belief; warranting inferences.
| 1561 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 174 Quhilk claus is adjectit to mak the mair cleir probatioun presumptive. 1685–6 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 87 The evidences against him were very many, and the circumstances very numerous and presumptive. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. xiii. 197 The presumptive evidence of that right is strongly in favour of his antagonist. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1028 That will be presumptive against him, that he made that return, unless he shews the contrary. 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz, First of May, This is strong presumptive evidence, but we have positive proof—the evidence of our own senses. 1895 [see presumption 3 b]. |
3. a. Based on presumption or inference; presumed, inferred. heir presumptive: see heir n. 1 b.
| 1628, 1683, 1875 Presumptive heir, etc. [see heir n. 1 b]. 1673 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 89 This estate, wherein I have a reall & presumptive, tho' not a present or a certain interest. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. v, The case of Effie..Deans..is one of those cases of murder presumptive. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Hist. ix. (1855) 289 The Duke of York being the heir presumptive. 1858 Sears Athan. ii. xii. 249 Immortality is not made presumptive, as a conclusion hanging on the last link of a syllogism, but its giant glories are disclosed. 1874 Green Short Hist. ix. §4. 635 As the King was childless..Mary was presumptive heiress of the Crown. |
b. Embryol. Applied to undifferentiated tissue that becomes a specified part in the normal course of development.
| 1935 Jrnl. Morphol. LVIII. 432 Each presumptive mid-gut epithelial nucleus appropriates a portion of the vitellophage cytoplasm and thus are formed the definitive mid-gut epithelial cells. 1950 B. M. Patten Early Embryol. of Chick iv. 66 The sharpness of the boundaries between different presumptive areas..is an entirely artificial device. 1977 Sci. Amer. July 76/3 In the 1910's and 1920's Harrison and his colleagues demonstrated that in amphibian embryos the presumptive limb region (the region that will later produce a leg) behaves in many ways like a typical epimorphic field. |