Premise

[imp. & p. p. PREMISED; p. pr. & vb. n. PREMISING.] [Lat. præmittere, præmissum, to send before, fr. præ, before, and mittere, to send.]

1Sense 1. To send before the time. [Obs.] Shak.

2Sense 2. To set forth beforehand, or as introductory to the main subject; to offer previously, as something to explain or aid in understanding what follows; especially, to lay down premises or first propositions, on which rest the subsequent reasonings.

I premise these particulars that the reader may know that I enter upon it as a very ungrateful task. Addison.

3Sense 3. To use or apply previously. “If venesection and a cathartic be premised.” Darwin.

v. t. To make or state antecedent propositions. Swift.

n.; pl. PRĔM'I-SES. [Written also, less properly, premiss.] [Fr. prémisse, Sp. premisa, It. premessa, from Lat. præmissus, sent before, p. p. of præmittere. See supra.] 1. A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as ground for further argument. While the premises stand firm, it is impossible to shape the conclusion. Decay of Piety. 2. (Logic.) Each of the first two propositions of a syllogism, from which the inference or conclusion is drawn; as, All sinners deserve punishment; A B is a sinner. These propositions, which are the premises, being true or admitted, the conclusion follows, that A B deserves punishment. 3. (pl.) (Law.) That part in the beginning of a deed the office of which is to express the grantor and grantee, and the land or thing granted or conveyed, and all that precedes the habendum; the thing demised or granted by a deed; — hence applied to a building and its adjuncts.