Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POS'TU-LATE, n. [L. postulatum, from postulo, to demand, from the root of posco, to ask or demand. The sense is to urge or push.]

A position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident, or too plain to require illustration. – Encyc. A self-evident problem, answering to axiom, which is a self-evident theorem. – D. Olmsted.