Predicate | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Prēd'i-cāte, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. PREDICATED; p. pr. & vb. n. PREDICATING.] [Lat. prædicare, prædicatum, to cry in public, to proclaim. See PREACH.]

To assert to belong to something; to affirm; as, to predicate whiteness of snow.
To rest upon for proof, or as an assertion or opinion; to found; to base. [U. S.]

Synonyms—To affirm; declare; assert.—To PREDICATE, FOUND, or BASE. Some able men among our lawyers and statesmen use predicate for found or base; as, to predicate an argument on certain principles; to predicate a statement on information received. This is wholly opposed to English usage. Predicate is a term in logic, and used only in a single case, namely, when we affirm one thing of another. “Similitude is not predicated of essences or substances, but of figures and qualities only.” Cudworth.

Prēd'i-cāte, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. To make an affirmation. Hale.

Prēd'i-cate, n.

noun

n. [Lat. prædicatum, from prædicatus, p. p. of prædicare: It. predicato, Sp. predicado, Fr. prédicat. See supra.]

(Logic.) That which is affirmed or denied of the subject. In these propositions, “paper is white,” “ink is not white,” whiteness is the predicate affirmed of paper and denied of ink.
(Gram.) The word or words in a proposition which express what is affirmed of the subject.

Syn.—Affirmation; declaration.

Prēd'i-cate, a.

adjective

a. Predicated.