A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1567-1651
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Surmise, -myse, v. [Late ME and e.m.E. surmysid p.p. (c1400), -mysed (1467-8), surmise (1526), OF surmise (OED).] tr. a. To allege (falsely), insinuate. b. To conjecture, suppose. c. To devise, plan, plot (to do something). d. ? To endanger, threaten. —a. 1630 Gordon Geneal. Hist. 413.
It wes surmised into the king's [sc. Charles I's] eares, by such as favoured the Earle of Murray that King James … had [i.e. had had] ane intention to reduce into his owne hands all the shirreffships [etc.] —b. 1651 Blairs P. 43.
So its surmised he [sc. Argyll] will kyth shortly in his owne colours of coosenage & treachery —c. 1567 Gude and Godlie Ballatis 152.
The Jewis did me dispyse, And euer mair surmyse, With vnkyndnes to keill me 1632 Lithgow Trav. v 198.
All I surmise is shrewdly stopt —d. 1609 Hume 180/542.
They suffered themselfis to be abused withe flattering speaches, persuading them that it wes the libertie and defence of treu religioun (then surmysed by the Earles of Huntlie, Errol, and Angous) that he intended
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"Surmise v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/surmise_v>
