Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUR-MISE, v.t. [surmi'ze; Norm. surmys, alledged; surmitter, to surmise, to accuse, to suggest; Fr. sur and mettre, to put.]

To suspect; to imagine without certain knowledge; to entertain thoughts that something does or will exist, but upon slight evidence. It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew / That what before she but surmis'd, was true. – Dryden. This change was not wrought by altering the form or position of the earth, as was surmised by a very learned man, but by dissolving it. – Woodward.