guess

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an estimate based on little or no information

   My guess is that there are 1000 mints in the jar.

2. 2
   noun

   a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

   That's my guess.

3. 3
   verb

   to expect, believe, or suppose

   I guess I am one of the best basketball players here.

4. 4
   verb

   to guess correctly

   I guessed it!

5. 5
   verb

   to judge tentatively or form an estimate of

   From the evidence we have, I guess this manuscript comes from the early 1800s.

6. 6
   verb

   to put forward a guess in spite of possible refutation

   I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again.

7. 7
   verb

   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.

8. 8
   verb

   To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.

   He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.

Etymology

From 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…