Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AR'GU-MENT, n. [L. argumentum.]

1. A reason offered for or against a proposition, opinion, or measure; a reason offered in proof, to induce belief, or convince the mind; followed by for or against.
2. In logic, an inference drawn from premises, which are indisputable, or at least of probable truth. – Encyc.
3. The subject of a discourse or writing. – Milton. Shak.
4. An abstract or summary of a book, or the heads of the subjects.
5. A debate or discussion; a series of reasoning; as, an argument was had before the court, in which argument, all the reasons were urged.
6. In astronomy, an arch by which we seek another unknown arch, proportional to the first. – Chambers.