Cer"tain , adv. Certainly. [Obs.]
Milton.
Cer"tain , n.
1. Certainty.
[Obs.]
Gower.
2. A
certain number or quantity. [Obs.]
Chaucer.
Cer"tain (?), a. [F. certain, fr. (assumed) LL. certanus, fr. L. certus determined, fixed, certain, orig. p. p. of
cernere to perceive,
decide, determine; akin to Gr. &?; to decide, separate, and to E. concern, critic,
crime, riddle
a sieve, rinse, v.]
1.
Assured in mind; having no doubts; free from suspicions concerning.
To make her
certain of the sad event.
Dryden.
I myself am certain of you.
Wyclif.
2. Determined; resolved; --
used with an infinitive.
However, I with thee have fixed my
lot,
Certain to undergo like doom.
Milton.
3. Not to be doubted
or denied; established as a fact.
The dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Dan. ii. 45.
4.
Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
Virtue that directs our ways
Through certain
dangers to uncertain praise.
Dryden.
Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
Shak.
5. Unfailing; infallible.
I have often
wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
Mead.
6. Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
The people go
out and gather a certain rate every day.
Ex. xvi. 4.
7.
Not specifically
named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; -- sometimes used independenty as
a noun, and
meaning certain
persons.
It came to pass
when he was
in a certain city.
Luke. v. 12.
About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace und decorum.
Macaulay.
For certain, assuredly. -- Of a certain, certainly.
Syn. -- Bound; sure; true; undeniable; unquestionable; undoubted; plain; indubitable; indisputable; incontrovertible; unhesitating; undoubting;
fixed; stated.
Hear it pronounced