premise

Meanings

Noun

• A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition.
• Any of the first propositions of a syllogism, from which the conclusion is deduced.
• Matters previously stated or set forth; especially, 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.
• A piece of real estate; a building and its adjuncts.
• The fundamental concept that drives the plot of a film or other story.

Verb

• To state or assume something as a proposition to an argument.
• To make a premise.
• To set forth beforehand, or as introductory to the main subject; to offer previously, as something to explain or aid in understanding what follows.
• To send before the time, or beforehand; hence, to cause to be before something else; to employ previously.

Origin

• From Middle English premise, from Old French premisse, from Medieval Latin premissa ("set before") (premissa propositio), feminine past participle of Latin praemitto ("to send or put before"), from prae- + mitto.
• The sense "a piece of real estate" arose from the misinterpretation of the word by property owners while reading title deeds where the word was used with the legal sense.