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.
Cer"tain, n. 1.
Certainty. [Obs.] Gower.
2. A certain number or quantity.
[Obs.] Chaucer.
Cer"tain, adv.
Certainly. [Obs.] Milton.
