Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - predicate

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin praedicatum, from neuter of praedicatus  Date: 15th century  1.  a. something that is affirmed or denied of the subject in a proposition in logic  b. a term designating a property or relation  2. the part of a sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject and that usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers  • predicative adjective  • predicatively adverb  II. transitive verb  (-cated; -cating)  Etymology: Late Latin praedicatus, past participle of praedicare to assert, ~ logically, preach, from Latin, to proclaim, assert — more at preach  Date: circa 1552  1.  a. affirm, declare  b. archaic preach  2.  a. to assert to be a quality, attribute, or property — used with following of ~s intelligence of humans  b. to make (a term) the ~ in a proposition  3. found, base — usually used with on the theory is ~d on recent findings  4. imply  III. adjective  Date: 1887 completing the meaning of a copula ~ adjective ~ noun