Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of taking to or upon oneself.
  • noun The act of taking possession or asserting a claim.
  • noun The act of taking for granted.
  • noun Something taken for granted or accepted as true without proof; a supposition.
  • noun Presumption; arrogance.
  • noun Logic A minor premise.
  • noun Christianity The taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven in body and soul after her death, observed as a feast on August 15.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of taking to one's self; a taking upon one's self; undertaking.
  • noun The act of taking for granted, or supposing without proof; supposition.
  • noun The thing supposed; a postulate or proposition assumed.
  • noun In logic, the minor premise in a categorical syllogism.
  • noun [This use of the word, originating with Cicero (Latin assumptio), was revived in the sixteenth century, and is common in modern Latin, but is rare in English.]
  • noun The taking up of a person into heaven; specifically, the traditional anticipated resurrection or bodily taking up into heaven of the Virgin Mary after her death, celebrated by the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Oriental churches by the feast of the Assumption on the 15th of August.
  • noun Adoption, or making use of.
  • noun In law, the agreement of the transferee of property to pay obligations of the transferror which are chargeable on it.
  • noun A conceited disposition, characterized by a tendency to claim more than is one's due; presumption.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of assuming, or taking to or upon one's self; the act of taking up or adopting.
  • noun The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; supposition; unwarrantable claim.
  • noun The thing supposed; a postulate, or proposition assumed; a supposition.
  • noun (Logic) The minor or second proposition in a categorical syllogism.
  • noun (Rom. Cath. & Greek Churches) The taking of a person up into heaven.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of assuming, or taking to or upon one's self; the act of taking up or adopting.
  • noun The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; a supposition; an unwarrantable claim.
  • noun The thing supposed; a postulate, or proposition assumed; a supposition.
  • noun logic The minor or second proposition in a categorical syllogism.
  • noun The taking of a person up into heaven.
  • noun A festival in honor of the ascent of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
  • noun rhetoric Assumptio.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Christianity) the taking up of the body and soul of the Virgin Mary when her earthly life had ended
  • noun a statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn
  • noun the act of taking possession of or power over something
  • noun celebration in the Roman Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary's being taken up into heaven when her earthly life ended; corresponds to the Dormition in the Eastern Orthodox Church
  • noun audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to
  • noun a hypothesis that is taken for granted
  • noun the act of assuming or taking for granted

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English assumpcion, from Latin assūmptiō, assūmptiōn-, adoption, from assūmptus, past participle of assūmere, to adopt; see assume.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English assumpcioun, from Medieval Latin assumptio ("a taking up (into heaven)") and Latin assumption ("a taking up, adoption, the minor proposition of a syllogism"); see assume.

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Examples

Comments

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  • In Catholic terms, this refers to the mode of ingress of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into heaven. One assumes (har-de-har-har) that the choice of the quasi-passive verb "assume" was deliberate. Jesus ascended into heaven, but Mary was assumed up there, presumably to the accompaniment of some kind of giant sucking noise.

    Related terms: Ascension Thursday and the Feast of the Assumption (August 15th), commemorating the respective trips of Jesus and Mary.

    October 8, 2007

  • I thought it was a kind of teletransport noise? You know, a sort of humming-electronic sound.

    October 8, 2007

  • I would certainly agree that the choice of "assume" was deliberate for its passive qualities. I wonder if that has more to do with the fact that Mary is female (and therefore, like a good female, subservient) or with the fact of divine origin. That is, since Jesus was the son of God, he could ascend of his own power, while Mary, who no one ever said was anything but a very obedient and saint-like human, did not possess the godlike power to ascend of her own power.

    Also she probably needed permission. It's only polite, you don't go crashing parties if you're the mother of God.

    October 8, 2007