| 释义 |
▪ I. guess, n.|gɛs|
Forms: 4–7 gesse, (5 ges, 6 geasse), 6 Sc. gaiss, 6–7 guesse, 6–8 ghesse, 6– guess.
[f. guess v.; cf. MDu. gisse (Du. gis).]
1. The action of guessing; an act of guessing, a conjecture, rough estimate; a supposition based on uncertain grounds. by guess: at haphazard, by rough estimation instead of calculation or measurement; by conjecture, without having proofs; † also at, in, up, upon guess; by guess and by God (or Godfrey) (slang, orig. Naval): (to steer) at hazard without a set course or without the guidance of landmarks; † after (by, to) my guess: as I estimate; † without guess: assuredly; † the guess of the hand: a rough estimate of the weight of something taken into the hand; my guess is or it is my guess: I am tolerably sure; to miss one's guess (U.S.), to be wrong in one's assumption; you have another guess coming: you are mistaken; your guess is as good as mine: a phrase used to indicate uncertainty about facts or circumstances or about the outcome of a set of events; anybody's guess (see anybody 3); anyone's guess (see any 8 c).
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 321 Þe kynge's oste at gesse in þe Est mad lardere, Of tounes & hamelesse, of granges & garner. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 421, I nam nouȝte shryuen some tyme but if sekenesse it make, Nouȝt tweies in two ȝere and thanne vp gesse I schryue me. 1390Gower Conf. III. 211 For if a king shall upon gesse Withoute verray cause drede, He may be liche to that I rede. c1400Rom. Rose 2817 Thy Ioye shal double, withoute gesse, Whan thou thenkist on hir semlinesse. a1400–50Alexander 3552 If gomes be gouerners of gods þan mai þi gesse worth. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 58 To keep trewe weight, and selle peper by gesse..it accordith nought. c1460Towneley Myst. xii. 439 Then must we go eest after my ges. 1529More Dyaloge iv. Wks. 281/1 We maye haue also a greate geasse therat. a1553Udall Royster D. ii. i. (Arb.) 33, I bring hir a ring, with a token in a cloute, And by all gesse, this same is hir house out of doute. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxiii. 24 Thow lychtleis all trew properteis Off luve express, And markis quhair nevir styme thow seis, Bot hittis be gaiss. a1586Sidney Sonn. in Arcadia, etc. (1629) 529 Passing all ghesse, whence into me should fly So mazde a masse. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 988/2 Soone after (by gesse) fiue of the clock [etc.]. c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxix, They looke into the beauty of thy mind, And that in guesse they measure by thy deeds. 1601― Jul. C. ii. i. 3, I cannot, by the progresse of the Starres, Giue guesse how neere to day. 1605― Lear v. i. 52 Heere is the guesse of their [the enemy's] true strength and Forces. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 555 Being only weighed by the guess of the hand, it seemeth much heavier. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxiii. 217 The Fame is antedated..being related at guesse before 'twas acted. 1647H. More Song of Soul i. ii. xlviii, 'Tis ghesse, not full perswasion. 1656H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 46 By which you may have some ghess of the other rates. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xiii. 87 A small Receiver, capable of containing (by guess) about a pound and a half of Water. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 304 Trees, not so long liv'd as elsewhere, if by the decayed Trunks any guess may be made. 1708Swift Death Partridge Wks. 1755 II. i. 158 Mr. Bickerstaff spoke altogether by guess, and knew no more what will happen this year, than I did myself. 1718Prior Knowledge 740, I confess, That human science is uncertain guess. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. viii, By my Guess it could not be less than Fifteen or Twenty Leagues off. 1736Butler Anal. ii. vii. 331 Mere guess, supposition and possibility, when opposed to historical evidence, prove nothing. 1751R. Paltock P. Wilkins (1884) I. x. 101, I was, to my guess, five weeks in the vault or cavern. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. v. Wks. (Globe) 673/1 By my guess we should come upon Crackskull common. 1781Cowper Let. 23 Apr., Wks. (1876) 68 It is worth while to send you a riddle You make such a variety of guesses. 1827Scott Jrnl. (1890) I. 394, I have a guess the best gamecocks would call a truce if a handful or two of oats were scattered among them. 1842W. Arnot Mem. J. Halley v. 304 Every effort of indolence to do a thing by guess..was sure to meet with an instant reproof. 1846Poe N.P. Willis Wks. 1864 III. 28 All this must be considered as mere guess on my part. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. xiii. 294 The inductive guess precedes experiment. 1879Browning Ivan Ivanovitch 99 No care to guide old Droug, he knows his way by guess, Once start him on the road. 1884tr. Lotze's Logic 344 The discovery of an universal law is always a guess on the part of the imagination, made possible by a knowledge of facts. 1909[see Godfrey2]. 1916T. Wolfe Let. Sept. (1958) 4, I hope I will do well in all my studies and my guess is I'll have to ‘bone’ on math. 1921Sat. Rev. 21 May 413/2 Governor Miller, who is responsible for the new legislation, seems to have missed his guess, if he means business. 1930J. C. Ransom God without Thunder xi. 231 It is my guess, in brief, that the scientists, with their Tables No. 2, hope to have, in the first place, a means of predicting Tables No. 1. 1931W. G. Carr (title) By Guess and by God. 1931R. Graves Poems 1926–30 41 He lurches here and there by guess And God and hope and hopelessness. 1935Punch 3 July 12/2 If you think I am fool enough to be hoodwinked.., you have another guess coming. 1936M. de la Roche Whiteoak Harvest xviii. 199 You're wot I calls a well-plucked 'un... And, w'en you're older, an overdose of sex appeal, or I miss my guess. [1939A. Derleth Let. 29 Dec. in N. & Q. (1965) July 268/2 My guess, naturally, is the latter—but I would value a letter from you setting down your own convictions.] 1939C. Day Lewis Child of Misfortune iii. vi. 337 If you think that's your doing..you've got another guess coming. 1939L. Baird Waste Heritage xxii. 310 Your guess is as good as mine. 1943N. Balchin Small Back Room xii. 135 ‘The question is, what will happen then?’..‘Your guess is as good as mine.’ 1951M. Kennedy Lucy Carmichael ii. v. 130 ‘Who's going to get in?’..‘Your guess is as good as mine.’ 1957E. Whate Press on Regardless i. 10 We drove by guess and by God, and the rest of that journey is best left to the obscurity which shrouded it at the time. 1958I. Murdoch Bell xx. 246 My guess is that once you start to fight you'll know you can't stay with Paul. 1965F. L. Utley in Bessinger & Creed Medieval & Linguistic Stud. 308 If I don't go down into history as the martyr President I miss my guess. 1967Observer 30 Apr. 29/3 Will bloomers and shorts catch on? My guess is that they will. 1967M. Procter Exercise Hoodwink vi. 47 ‘Did he give you the impression of being honest.’ Evans allowed himself a shrug. ‘Your guess is as good as mine, sir.’ 1969New Yorker 12 Apr. 121/1 It is not certain that there are any moonquakes, though Dr. Latham says he will miss his guess if the passive seismic experiment records none.
2. attrib. and Comb., as guess-aim, guess-monger.
1863Atkinson Stanton Grange 266 Taking the best guess-aim I could. 1892Skeat in N. & Q. Ser. viii. I. 10 The day of the etymological guess-mongers will be gone for ever.
¶3. The expressions anotherguess, otherguess, etc., in which -guess is a corruption of -gates, have given rise to phrases in which guess appears as an attributive n. or adj., with the sense ‘kind of’.
1825Blackw. Mag. XVIII. 43/2 Oho! is it so indeed?..why, then, that's a different guess-story altogether, ship⁓mate. 1834Fraser's Mag. X. 668 Every one..knows what guess-sort of wiseacre France gave birth to in the person of that algebraical gentleman. 1843Haliburton Attaché II. xiii. 265 Not look at a woman?..why, what sort of a guess world would this be without petticoats? 1898Blackw. Mag. Mar. 423 He had no guess-idea of what bemused his vision.
▪ II. guess, a. dial.|gɛs|
Also guest, guessed.
[Cf. LG. güst of the same meanings.]
Of a cow or ewe: Barren; temporarily barren (see quots.). Also, not yielding milk.
1736Pegge Kenticisms 31 (E.D.S.), Guess-cow, a barren cow. 1744–50W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. III. i. 103 Guess-Cows..are those that did not stand to their Bulling last Year. 1750― Country Housew. 29 They [Cows] are not always in Milk, as being in Calf, or that they go, what we in Hertfordshire call, guess, or dry. 1845Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VI. ii. 363, I get far fewer ‘guest’ or barren ewes. 1855Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 723 Guessed ewes (Lin.), not seasonably in lamb.
▪ III. guess, v.|gɛs|
Pa. tense and pa. pple. guessed |gɛst|. Forms: 4 gesce, gese, gessen, 4–7 gess(e, 5 gessyn, 5–7 ges, (6 geasse), 6–7 guesse, 6–8 ghess(e, 6– guess. pa. tense and pa. pple. (contracted forms) 4–5 gest, 6 ghest, 6–8 guest.
[ME. gessen, cognate with the synonymous MLG., MDu. and mod.Du., Fris. gissen (MDu. also gessen, NFris. gezzen, gedsen), MSw. gissa, gitza, Sw. gissa, MDa. gidze, gitse, getze, Da. gisse; mod.Icel. has a derivative form gizka.
The relation between the various forms is obscure. According to Tamm Svenskt Etym. Ordb. the Scandinavian forms are adopted from LG. gissen, a phonetic alteration of gessen (cf. LG. hissen, var. of hessen, a. HG. hetzen to hunt). It seems, however, more probable that the Sw. and Da. forms are native, as the Eng. word can hardly be referred to any other than a Scandinavian source. The word cannot well descend from an OE. form = LG. gissen, as the initial would then have been y (ME. ȝ). The only remaining possibility would be that it was adopted from continental LG., but there is nothing in the nature of the meaning to account for its having come from that source in or before the early 14th c. The forms may represent one, or prob. more than one, of the OTeut. types *gitisôjan, *gatisôjan, *gessôjan, *gissjan; in any case the word is a derivative of the root of get v.; cf. ON. geta v., to get, guess, geta wk. fem. a guess.
In the 14th c. the word was the usual rendering of L. æstimare, the influence of which probably affected some of the early senses.]
1. a. trans. To form an approximate judgement of (size, amount, number, distance, etc.) without actual measurement or calculation; to estimate. Sometimes with clause as obj.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7672 Fra þe poynt of þe erthe tille Saturnus Þe heghest planete may be gesced þus. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 1115 No man coude preyse or gesse Of hem the valewe or richesse. 1382Wyclif 1 Kings iii. 8 A puple without eende, that may not be noumbred and gessid, for multitude. 1390Gower Conf. II. 207 Great richesse Wel more than they couthen gesse. a1400–50Alexander 5512 Þare was a miȝti montayne at to þe mone semed He gessis it gaynir to god þan to þe grounde vndire. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. v. (1859) 76 The gretenes therof ne couthe I not gesse, nor acounte. 1660Trial Regic. 191, I saw this person standing within a Pike or two length as I can guesse it. 1674J. Josselyn Voy. New Eng. 258 As near as can be ghessed. 1726G. Roberts Four Years Voy. 162 That they who had Life..could nothing nigh measure or guess Time as that [glass] did. 1776Trial of Nundocomar 39/1 How many people do you guess might follow you to Hougly, expecting employment? 1804W. Tennant Ind. Recreat. II. 38 Boiled down to a proper consistence, which they guess by the eye, and by the touch. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 207 A statue..cut out of a rock, which has been guessed at different heights. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. x. 277 The eye being liable to be grossly deceived in guessing the direction of a perpendicular.
absol.c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 205 The ferth day formest next Palmesonenday, þe tyme, as I gest, R. ȝede to play. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1735 So euene were [they] chosen for to gesse. ― Frankl. T. 684 Mo than a thousand stories as I gesse Koude I now telle. c1391― Astrol. ii. §40, I..sette the point of A in the wex on my label as, euene as y kowde gesse ouer the Ecliptik lyne. 1605Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 36 The Ottamites..Haue there inioynted them with an after Fleete. 1 Sen. I, so I thought: how many, as you guesse? 1712W. Rogers Voy. 103 It lay as near as we could guess ENE. and WSW. 1757Washington Let. Writ. 1889 I. 478 Our present strength, I guess, is about seven hundred.
†b. With numbers. to guess: approximately, ‘or thereabouts’. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 150 Þer duellid R. schip þre daies to gesse. 1375Barbour Bruce xiv. 270 Thai war, to gess, fiffty thousand.
†c. To add (an ingredient) without exact measurement. Obs.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. xi. 385, iij piluls of cupresse, Or leef of box an hondful, therto gesse.
†2. intr. To take aim (const. to). Also, to purpose, aim, direct oneself to do something. Obs.
13..Coer de L. 4482 When the Crystene myght draw hem tylle, To shete the arweblasteres hem dresse, And the archeres to hem gesse. c1320K. Horn (Harl. MS., ed. Ritson) 1187 Horn..seide he wolde gesse [older texts agesce, agesse] To aryve at Westnesse. 1530Palsgr. 561/2, I gesse, I mente or ayme to hytte a thynge that I shote or throwe at, je esme.
†3. trans. To esteem, account, reckon: with obj. and complement. Obs.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 3934 Þan es a day of pardon to gesce Mare worthy þan alle þis worldis riches. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 229 Poul..biddiþ..bi oure life þat man have mater to gesse us as mynystris of God. 1382― Matt. xi. 16 To whom shal I gesse this generacioun lichy? ― Mark xv. 28 The prophecie is fulfild that seith, And he is gesside, or ordeyned, with wickide men. a1400Prymer (E.E.T.S.) 64 Gessist þou it worþi to opene þin iȝen on siche a man? a1400–50Alexander 4495 Ȝe..gesse wele as many gods as growis in him membris.
†4. To think, judge, suppose; with clause as obj. Obs. (Cf. sense 6.)
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 422 As we gessen þat þis man þat holdiþ wel cristis lawe is a leme of hooly chirche,..So we gessen of an-oþer man þat reuersiþ cristis lawe, þat he is a leme of þe fend. ― Acts viii. 20 Thou gessidist the ȝifte of God for to be had..by money. 1388― Jer. xxiii. 23 Gessist thou [Vulg. putasne] whether Y am God of niȝ, seith the Lord, and not God afer? a1400Prymer (E.E.T.S.) 64 Gessist þou not [Vulg. putasne] þat a deed man schal lyue aȝen? c1400Apol. Loll. 48 Hector Thebanus..wen he went to vse philosophie at Athenis, he kest a wey a gret peise of gold; he gessid þat he miȝt not haue to gidre, riches & vertu. a1400–50Alexander 2905 Þe Persyns..gesses him to be gode for glori of his wedis.
5. To form an opinion or hypothesis respecting (some unknown state of facts), either at random or from indications admittedly uncertain; to conjecture. Const. by, from.
a. with clause or indirect question as obj.; also with obj. and inf., and with advs. so, otherwise, in lieu of clause.
1390Gower Conf. I. 103 For I can nought my selfe gesse, Which is the best unto my chois. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. lxxxvii. (1495) 583 The stone smaragdus helpyth them that vse to dyuyne and gesse what shal befall. a1400–50Alexander 2071 And wele he geses be þe graynes ȝoure gomes ere fele. c1425Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1386, I trow, as I gesse, At Vertu hys castell ye may soone hym fynde. 1530Palsgr. 561/2 Gesse what we were talkynge of afore you came in a dores. 1555–8T. Phaer æneid i. B j, I gesse Some goddesse thou art, and Phebus bright thy brother is. a1605Montgomerie Sonn. xxiii. 2 If gentle blude ingendrit be by baggis, Then culd I ges vho wer a gentle Jhone. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. x. 30 One amongst them, whom we guessed to be the chiefest of them. 1680Otway Orphan iv. i. (1691) 37 Acast. And went your Maid to bed too? Mon. My Lord, I guess so. 1709Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 277, I guess it to have been a Piece of the Chapell. 1723R. Millar Hist. Propagat. Chr. II. viii. 367 We may ghess what sort of Christians these Popish Proselytes were. 1741Middleton Cicero II. vii. 93 At present we can onely guess rather than know what Caesar will do. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 135 What it is can employ them all the day is not easy to guess. a1806Bp. Horsley Serm. (1811) 292 They were effected by what you might the least guess to be the instruments of Providence. 1838Lytton Alice 5 You would scarcely have guessed, from her appearance, that she was more than seven or eight and twenty. 1879B. Taylor Stud. Germ. Lit. 101 We may guess when its growth began.
b. with simple obj.
1513More Rich. III Wks. (1557) 57/1 Whose iugement semeth me somwhat like, as though men should gesse y⊇ bewty of one longe before departed. 1591Spenser Ruines Rome v, O Rome! thee let him see, In case thy greatnes he can gesse in harte. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier F 2, You may gesse the inward mind by the outward apparel. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 707 Some ghessing one thing and some another. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 67 His Water..cleer like Well-water, insomuch as I could never have guest a burning Feaver. 1673Dryden Amboyna iv. iii, This I guess, but saw it not because I came too late. 1694― Love Triumph. iii. i, Beware: for by my own I guess your passion. 1817Chalmers Astron. Disc. i. (1852) 24 We may guess with plausibility what we cannot anticipate with confidence. 1844Mrs. Browning Rom. Page xvi, I..little guessed the end.
†c. with obj. and complement. Obs.
1605Kyd 1st Pt. Jeronimo B 3 b, Spaines choyce embassador..for soe I gesse thee. 1632Randolph Jealous Lovers iii. vii, Your boy? I should have guess'd him for your father. 1633Massinger Guardian iii. v, Yet by your language, I ghess you a Gentleman. 1667Milton P.L. v. 290 For on som message high they guessd him bound.
d. absol. and ellipt., chiefly in parenthetic use. (The early examples may possibly belong to 4.)
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 1136 Yhernyng of eghe, als I can gese Falles to worldes rychese. c1460Ros La Belle Dame 173 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 57 In hir failed nothyng, as I koude gesse. c1520Interl. Beauties Women A ij b, Thys lute is out of tune now as I ges. 1562Nottingham Rec. IV. 128 Sheryffz off cetyes ar, I ges, for eleccion and for retornes. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. v. 60 Discouer more at large what cause that was, For I am ignorant, and cannot guesse. 1599H. Buttes Dyets drie Dinner H iij, Carot, that is, redde roote: as some Antiquaries gesse. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iv. 24 Sil. Oh Corin, that thou knew'st how I do loue her. Cor. I partly guesse: for I haue lou'd ere now. 1632Massinger Emperor East iii. iii, Theod. Whither went shee? speake. Phil. As they ghesse, to the lawrel groue. 1737Gray Let. Wks. 1884 II. 12 You..will prefer a picture of still life to the realities of a noisy one, and as I guess, will imitate what you prefer. 1818Shelley Marenghi xii, He went Alone, as you may guess, to banishment. 1819― Julian & Maddalo 535 He had store Of friends and fortune once, as we could guess From his nice habits and his gentleness.
6. I guess: sometimes used, with playful moderation of statement, in reference to what the speaker regards as a fact or a secure inference. Hence colloq., orig. in the northern U.S. (sometimes with omission of the pronoun) = ‘I am pretty sure’.
1692Locke Educ. § 28 Once in Four and Twenty Hours, I think, is enough; and no Body, I guess, will think it too much. Ibid. §59 If this were constantly observ'd, I guess there would be little need of blows or chiding. c1698― Cond. Underst. iv. xii. §10 Beyond this I fear our talents reach not, nor are our faculties, as I guess, able to advance. 1776R. King in Life & Corr. (1894) I. 23, I guess the pious Elder would as lieve tarry where he is. 1778Franklin Let. Wks. 1889 VI. 195, I write this letter to you, notwithstanding; (which I think I can convey in a less mysterious manner, and guess it may come to your hands). 1814Byron Diary 8 Apr., ‘I guess now’ (as the Yankees say), that he will yet play them a pass. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxviii, I guess..you winna be the waur o' a glass of the right Rosa Solis. 1826― Jrnl. (1890) I. 85, I guess (as Mathews makes his Yankees say) that we shall not be troubled with visitors, and I calculate that I will not go out at all. 1830Galt Lawrie T. iii. ix. (1849) 114, I guess Squire Lawrie talks too much. 1843Haliburton Attaché I. ii. 23 What on airth shall I do?—guess, I'll strap my rasor. 1848Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 126 Thet kin' o talk I guess you'll find'll answer to a charm. 1885Howells Silas Lapham II. xxii, I guess those English parties have gone back on Rogers. 1916A. Huxley Let. 21 Jan. (1969) 89 Say, kiddo, guess you're between the Devil and the W.C. 1927M. de la Roche Jalna xv. 165, I guess I've just the right amount of brains for that. 1938R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 46 Py korry she cost the Pakeha thousands and thousands of pounds I guess. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1968) i. 19, I guess it was a bandicoot, or else an ole swamp wallaby that died in the lonely scrub. 1959M. Callaghan in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. (1968) 5 There's no harm in you talking to Mother if you want to, I guess.
7. a. intr. To form conjectures. († Const. of.) to guess at: to attempt to estimate conjecturally; to hazard a random or insufficiently founded opinion about; to attempt to solve or discover by conjecture.
a1400Plowman's T. 170 In hir sentence..They willen gesse in hir gay hall. a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (1590) 14 More then the letter I haue not to ghesse by. Ibid. iii. 333 b, Philoclea..ghessed somewhat at Zelmanes mind. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1238 Their gentle sex to weepe are often willing, Greeuing themselues to gesse at others smarts. 1605― Macb. iv. iii. 203 Rosse. Let not your eares dispise my tongue for euer, Which shall possess them with the heauiest sound That euer yet they heard. Macd. Humh: I guesse at it. 1606― Ant. & Cl. iii. iii. 29 Guesse at her yeares, I prythee. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 63 Wisards, which by conjectures and casting of lots did ghesse of things to come. 1625― Pilgrims ii. 1480 He is on his birthday..yearely weighed and account kept therof by his Physicians, thereby ghessing at his bodily estate. 1641Wilkins Math. Magick i. xvii. (1648) 127 From the understanding of which, you may the better ghesse at the nature of the rest. 1711Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mrs. Hewet Lett. 1887 I. 31 By what fine gentlemen write, you know, it is not easy to guess at what they mean. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. vi. 202 The total amount..can only be rudely guessed at. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. xxxviii, Vain endeavours to guess at a riddle. 1818Shelley Rosalind & Helen 1181 There was a change, but spare to guess, Nor let that moment's hope be told. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 23 Would I shirk assurance on each point whereat I can but guess—Does the soul survive the body? [etc.].
b. In phr. to keep (a person) guessing: to keep in a state of uncertainty. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1896Ade Artie v. 41 When your old college chum gets that letter it'll keep him guessin' where to begin on it. 1905Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republ. 24 Nov. 1 More doubt is now thrown upon the question whether he will go to Washington at all. The governor seems determined to keep us guessing. 1924A. C. Maclaren Cricket Old & New xii. 116 A. G. Steel..putting the ball where he liked and keeping the batsman guessing all the time. [1927M. A. Noble Those ‘Ashes’ 175 Mailey..varied his pace splendidly and had everyone guessing.] 1930H. Zink City Bosses in U.S. 23 Murphy proceeded with considerable caution, sometimes withdrawing from a position, sometimes forcing it, and altogether keeping his opponents guessing what he would do next. 1955L. P. Hartley Perfect Woman xiii. 124 She always tries to keep me guessing.
8. trans. ‘To conjecture rightly’ (J.); to hit upon the answer to (a question), the solution of (a riddle, † a parable); to discover by conjecture, divine. † Also with out.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xv. 15–20 Out of one [parable] to haue diuined and gessed [1552 geassed] another. 1563–83Foxe A. & M. II. 1786/2 Wolfe..partly gessing which Ambassadour he ment. 1636E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy II. 535 Because it is hard to attaine to that knowledge, he deserves the greater commendations, who takes such a course, that he ghesses it out. a1718Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. I. 205 Thomas Lurting may guess the man. c1718Prior Beauty, A Riddle 37 Your riddle is not hard to read: I guess it. 1783Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 250, I do not pretend to guess precisely their sentiments. 1847Bushnell Chr. Nurt. ii. vi. (1861) 347 But which is worse..it is not difficult, I think, to guess. 1884Child Ballads I. 418/1 Choose comrades that can guess riddles.
absol.1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iv. 8 Why meet him at the gates and re[de]liuer our authorities there? Esc. I ghesse not. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge vi, Sure enough it's Barnaby—how did you guess?
Hence guessed (guessed-at), ppl. a.
1832R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 253, I have observed one thing, and one only, in favour of my guessed-at theory. 1917J. Masefield Lollingdon Downs 61 The discoverer scans..the guessed-at satellite. 1930Auden Poems 26 Areas..Whose guessed at wonders would be worth alleging.
▪ IV. guess
variant of chess n.2
1631Markham Countr. Content. i. xvi. (ed. 4) 99 There is no better way to take him than by setting Roddes drest with water Lime, and set shoring on the edge of the water, one guess [ed. 1614 crosse] or row ouer another.
▪ V. guess(e
obs. pl. form of guest. |