/ɡɛs/
OriginFrom Middle English gessen (verb) and Middle English gesse (noun), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitisōną (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take, seize”).
Cognate with Danish gisne (“to guess”), Norwegian gissa, gjette (“to guess”), Swedish gissa (“to guess”), Saterland Frisian gisje (“to guess”), Dutch gissen (“to guess”), Low German gissen (“to guess”), Dutch gis (“a guess”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitiskōną). Compare also Russian гада́ть (gadátʹ, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.
- To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
“We can only guess at what was going through her mind.”
“She guessed that the delivery driver must have got stuck in traffic.”
- To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
“He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.”
“You guessed the right answer!”
“You will never guess what happened next.”
- USto suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
“That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.”
“Not all together; better far, I guess, / That we do make our entrance several ways.”
“But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.”
- colloquialTo think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".
“"I guess you were right." "What did he say?" "He guesses you were right."”
“"I guess I'll go to bed."”
- obsoleteTo hit upon or reproduce by memory.
“Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.”
- A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.
“If you don't know the answer, take a guess.”
“"But I shall have eleven guesses," answered Ozma. "Surely I ought to guess one object in eleven correctly; and, if I do, I shall rescue one of the royal family and be safe myself. Then the rest of you”
“We are twelve billion light years from the edge / That's a guess”
Formsguesses(present, singular, third-person) · guessing(participle, present) · guessed(participle, past) · guessed(past) · guess(infinitive) · guess(first-person, present, singular) · guessed(first-person, past, singular) · guess(present, second-person, singular) · guessest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · guessed(past, second-person, singular) · guessedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · guesseth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · guessed(past, singular, third-person) · guess(plural, present) · guessed(past, plural) · guess(present, subjunctive) · guessed(past, subjunctive) · guess(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past) · guesses(plural)