reason 
speak, F. raisonner, reason, argue, reply, = Pr. 
razonar, rasonar = Cat. raJionnr = Sp. 'ra:ouar 
= Pg. razoar = It. ragionare, reason, < ML. ra- 
lionare, reason, argue, discourse, speak, cal- 
culate, < L. ratio(n-), reason, calculation: see 
reason 1 , >i. Cf. areason.] I. intrans. 1. To 
exercise the faculty of reason ; make rational 
deductions ; think or choose rationally ; use in- 
telligent discrimination. 
He [the serpent] hath eaten and lives, 
And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns, 
Irrational till then. Milton, P. L., ix. 705. 
We only reason in so far as we note the resemblances 
among objects and events. 
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 416. 
2. To practise reasoning in regard to some- 
thing; make deductions from premises; en- 
gage in discussion ; argue, or hold arguments. 
Let us dispute again, 
And reason of divine Astrology. 
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, ii. 2. 
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. 
Isa. L IS. 
3f. To hold account; make a reckoning; reckon. 
Since the affairs of men rest still incertain, 
Let 's reason with the worst that may befall. 
Shak., J. C., v. 1. 97. 
4. To hold discourse ; talk ; parley. 
They reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the 
heir: come, let us kill him. Luke xx. 14. 
But reason with the fellow. 
Before you punish him. Shak., Cor., iv. 6. 51. 
II. trans. 1. To reason about; consider or 
discuss argumentatively ; argue; debate. 
Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Mark ii. 8. 
Condescends, even, to reason this point. Brougham. 
2. To give reasons for; support by argument; 
make a plea for: often with out: as, to reason 
out a proposition or a claim. 
This boy, that cannot tell what he would have, 
But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship, 
Does reason our petition with more strength 
Than thou hast to deny 't. Shak., Cor., v. 3. 176. 
3. To persuade by reasoning or argument. 
Men that will not be reasoned into their senses may yet 
be laughed or drolled into them. Sir R. L Estrange. 
4f. To hold argument with; engage in speech 
or discussion; talk with; interrogate. 
reason 2 !, re. An obsolete spelling of raisin 1 . In 
the following passage it is apparently applied 
to some other fruit than the grape. 
A medlar and a hartichoke, 
A crab and a small reason. 
Cotgrave, Wits Interpreter (1671), p. 219. (ffares.) 
reasonable (re'zn-a-bl), . [< ME. resonable, 
resunable, resnabyl, resnable, renablt, runnable, < 
OF. resonable, raisonnable, regnable, resnable, ra- 
tionable, F. raisonnable = Pr. razonable = Cat. 
returnable = Sp. razonable = Pg. razoavel = It. 
razionabile, < L. rationabilis, reasonable, < ra- 
tio(n-), reason, calculation: see reason 1 and 
-able.] 1. Having the faculty of reason; en- 
dowed with reason; rational, as opposed to 
brute. 
If he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him 
bear it for a difference between himself and his horse ; for 
it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reason- 
able creature. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 71. 
4991 
5. Moderate in amount or price ; not high or 
dear: as, reasonable charges or prices ; reason- 
able goods. 6. In law, befitting a person of 
reason or sound sense ; such as a prudent man 
would exercise or act upon in his own affairs: 
as, reasonable care; reasonable diligence; rea- 
sonable cause. 7t. Calculable; computable; 
hence, detailed; itemized. 
And rekene byfore reson a resonable acounte, 
What one hath, what another hath, and what hy hadde 
bothe. Piers Plowman (C), xiv. 35. 
8f. Talkative ; ready in conversation. 
Lo ! how goodly spak this knight . . . 
I ... gan me aqueynte 
With him, and fond him so tretable, 
reassure 
Chain of reasoning. See chain. Deductive, dia- 
grammatic, dilemmatic, Fermatian reasoning. See 
the adjectives. =Syn. Reasoning, Argumentation. Rea- 
x'lin'iiii is miii'h broader than argumentation. The lat- 
ter is confined to one side of the question, or, in another 
sense, supposes a proposition, supported by arguments on 
the affirmative side and attacked by arguments on the 
negative. Reasoning may be upon one side of a proposi- 
tion, and is then the same as argumentation; but it may 
also be the method by which one reaches a belief, and 
thus a way of putting together the results of investigation : 
as, the reasoning in Euclid, or in Butler's Analogy ; the 
reasoning by which a thief justifies himself in stealing. 
A piece of reasoning is like a suspended chain, in which 
link is joined to link by logical dependence. 
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 168. 
A poem does not admit argumentation, though it does 
admit development of thought. Coleridge, Table-Talk. 
Right wonder skilful and resonable. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 534. reasonless (re'zn-les), a. 
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, such proof as will 
produce an abiding conviction to a moral certainty, so 
that a prudent man would feel safe to act upon that con- 
viction in matters of the highest concern to his personal 
interests. Reasonable aid, a euphemistic expression 
for aid\, 3, corresponding to the term benevolence as used 
forforced loans or gifts. Reasonable alms. See alms. 2. Deficient in reason or judgment ; lacking 
[< reason* + -less.] 
1. Lacking the faculty of reason; irrational, 
as an animal. [Rare.] 
The reasonless creatures [the two kine] also do the will 
of their maker. 
Bp. Uall, Contemplations (ed. Tegg, 1836X II. 144. 
Reasonable doubt, in few, doubt for which a pertinent 
reason can be assigned; that state of a case which, after 
the entire comparison and consideration of the evidence, 
leaves the minds of jurors in that condition that they can- 
not say they feel an abiding conviction, to a moral cer- 
tainty, of the truth of the charge. Shaw, C. ./.Rea- 
sonable dower. See dower?, 2. = Syn. Rational, Rea- 
sonable. See rational. 
reasonable! (re'zn-a-bl), adv. [< reasonable, a.] 
Reasonably. 
in good sense ; unreasoning. [Archaic.] 
When any of them [animals] dieth, it is ... buried in 
a holy place, the reasonlesse men howling and knocking 
their breasts in the exequies of these vnreasonable beasts. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 574. 
3. Not marked or justified by reason ; sense- 
less; causeless; unwarranted. 
This proffer is absurd and reasonless. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 4. 187. 
toKd'thffi? g00d e " 'S.:'M. K D 8 , iv a . V f ' reason-piece (re'zn-pes), n. [A corruption of 
The Library of the Sorbonne is a very long and large ising-piece.] In bmldmg, a timber lying un- 
Gallery, reasonable well stored with Books. der the ends of beams in the side of a house ; a 
Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 128. wall-plate. 
reasonableness (re'zn-a-bl-nes), re. The char- reassemblage (re-a-sem'blaj), n. [< re- + as- 
acter of being reasonable; conformity to or semblage.] A renewed assemblage. 
compliance with the requirements of reason; New beings arise from the reassemblage of the scattered 
agreeableness to rational ideas or principles. parts. Harris, Three Treatises, Note 7 on Treatise I. 
The method of inwardness and the secret of self-re- reassemble (re-a-sem'bl), v. [< re- + assem- 
^SSH!^LJ^S a S.^.S! L ^^.*^J^ l y!f* * We - Cf. F. rassembler, reassemble.] I. trans. 
mildness, produced the total impression of his [Jesus's] 
"epieikeia," or sweet reasonableness. 
M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, vii. 5. 
. 
To assemble or bring together again; gather 
anew. 
Reassembling our afflicted powers. 
Consult how we may henceforth most offend. 
Milton, P. L., i. 186. 
II. intrans. To assemble or meet together 
again. 
reasonably (re'zn-a-bli), adv. [ME. resonably, 
reuably; < reasonable + -ly 2 .] I. In a reason- 
able manner; agreeably to reason ; with good 
sense or judgment. 
And speke as renably and faire and wel 
As to the Fhitonissa did Samuel. 
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 211. . . - ,. 
The abuse of the judicial functions that were properly reass< rt )) ? * 
and reasonably assumed by the House was scandalous and 
notorious. Leclcy, Eng. in 18th Cent., iii. 
2. Within the bounds of reason; with good 
reason or cause ; justly; properly. 
Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said . . . 
May reasonably die. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 3. 74. 
It might seem that an egg which has succeeded in being 
fresh has done all that can reasonably be expected of it. 
U. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 248. 
The forces of Surajah Dowlah were dispersed, never to 
reassemble. Macaulay, Lord Clive. 
... [< re- + assert.] To 
assert again ; proclaim or manifest anew. 
With equal fury, and with equal fame, 
Shall great Ulysses reassert his claim. 
Pope, Odyssey, xvii. 147. 
reassertion (re-a-ser'shon), . [< reassert + 
-ion.] A repeated assertion of the same thing ; 
the act of asserting anew, 
reassess (re-a-ses'), v. t. [< re- + assess.] To 
assess again. 
3. To a reasonable extent; in a moderately reassessment (re-a-ses'ment), n. [< reassess + 
good degree ; fairly ; tolerably. -ment.] A renewed or repeated assessment. 
Verely she was heled, and left her styltes thore, reassign (re-a-sln'), v. t. [= F. reassigner; as 
And on her fete wente home resonably well. re- + assign.] To assign again ; transfer back 
Joseph ofArimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 47. or to another what has been assigned. 
As a general rule, Providence seldom vouchsafes to reassignment (re-a-sin'ment), n. [< reassif/u 
mortals any more than just that degree of encouragement + -ment.] A renewed or repeated assignment 
)n reassume (re-a-sum'), . t. [= Sp. reasnmir = 
ish, or extravagant in thought or action. 
Hir maners might no man amend ; 
Of tong she was trew and renable, 
And of hir semblant soft and stabile. 
Ywaine and Oawaine (Riteon's Metr. Rom., 1. 10), 1. 208. 
[(Piers Plowman, Notes, p. 17.) 
The adjective '.reasonable . . . denotes a character in which 
reason (taking it in its largest acceptation) possesses a de- 
cided ascendant over the temper and passions ; and im- 
plies no particular propensity to a display of the discursive 
power, if indeed it does not exclude the idea of such a pro- 
pensity. D. Stewart, Human Mind, ii. 10, note. 
3. Conformable to or required by reason; due 
sound, sensible, natural, etc. 
Ther doth no wyghte nothing so resonable 
That nys harme in her (jealousy's] ymagynynge. 
Chaucer, Complaint of Venus, 1. 85. 
I beseech you . . . present your bodies a living sacri- 
fice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 
8cl 'vice. Rom. xii. 1. 
A law may be reasonable in itself, though a man does not 
"'low it. Swift. 
The terrors of the child are quite reasonable, and add to 
his loveliness. Emerson, Courage. 
4. Not exceeding the bounds of reason or com- 
mon sense; moderate; tolerable. 
I will marry her upon any reasonable demands. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 233. 
reasoner (re'zn-er), n. [< reason! + -erl. Cf. 
F. raisonne,,,- = Pr. razonador = Sp razonador 
'> 
nator, a reasoner, < rationare, reason : see rea- 
son 1 , v.] One who reasons or argues, or exer- 
cises his reasoning powers ; one who considers 
a subject argumentatively. 
They are very bad reasoners, and vehemently given to 
opposition. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, iii. 2. 
reasonfullyt (re'zn-ful-i), adv. [ME., < reason 1 
+ -ful + -ly 2 .] With full reason ; most reason- 
ably. 
So then reasonfulK maye we sey that mercy both right 
and lawe passeth. Testament of Love, iii. 
reasoning (re'zn-iug), re. [Verbal n. of reason 1 , 
v.] 1. The use of the faculty of reason; dis- 
criminative thought or discussion in regard to 
a subject; rational consideration. 2. A pres- 
entation of reasons or arguments; an argu- 
mentative statement or expression; a formal 
discussion. 
Hear now my reasoning, and hearken. Job xiii. 6. 
3f. Discussion; conversation; discourse. 
Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them 
should be greatest. Luke ix. 46. 
And when the sayd v. dayes were expyred, y kynge re- 
assumyd the crowne of Pandulph. 
Fabyan, Chron., II., an. 1212. 
reassumption (re-a-sump'shon), n. [< re- + 
assumption.'] A resuming; a second assumption. 
reassurance (re-a-shor'ans), w. [= F. reassu- 
rance; as reassure + -aiice.] 1. Assurance or 
confirmation repeated. 
A reassurance of his tributary subjection. 
Prynne, Treachery and Disloyalty, iii. 25. 
O' the face of her the doubt that first paled joy, 
Then, final reassurance. 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 49. 
3. Same as reinsurance. 
No re-assurance shall be lawful, except the former in- 
surer shall be insolvent, a bankrupt, or dead. 
Blackstone, Com., II. xxx. 
reassure (re-a-shor'), v. t. [= F. reassurer = 
Pg. reassegufar = It. riassicurare ; as re- + 
assure.] 1 . To assure or establish anew ; make 
sure again ; confirm. 
Let me fore-warn'd each sign, each system learn, 
That I iny people's danger may discern, 
Ere 'tis too late wish'd health to reassure. 
Churchill, Gotham, iii. 
