Probability Meaning

"For, a man may with as great probability derive the Scots pedigree from the Gods, as from Scota that ſuppoſed and counterfeit daughter of the Ægyptian King Pharao, wedded (forſooth) unto Gaithelus, the ſonne of Cecrops founder of Athens. But, as this conceit ariſing from the unskilfulneſſe of Antiquitie, is of the better ſort of ingenuous Scots rejected: […]" — 1610, William Camden, “Scoti”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC, page 119:

"Thus, firſt Traditions were a proof alone; / Cou’d we be certain ſuch they were ſo known: / But ſince ſome Flaws in long deſcent may be, / They make not Truth but Probability." — 1682, John Dryden, Religio Laici: Or, A Layman’s Faith, London: H. Hills, published 1710, page 21:

"As Demonſtration is the ſhewing the agreement, or diſagreement of two Ideas, by the intervention of one or more Proofs, which have a conſtant, immutable, and viſible connexion one with another : ſo Probability is nothing but the appearance of ſuch an agreement, or diſagreement, by the intervention of Proofs, whoſe connexion is not conſtant and immutable, or at leaſt is not perceived to be ſo, but is, or appears for the moſt part to be ſo, and is enough to induce the Mind to judge the Propoſition to be true, or falſe, rather than the contrary." — 1690, John Locke, “Of Probability”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, 3rd edition, London: Awnsham and John Churchil, published 1695, book IV, page 376:

"Thus though this degree of faith is but one remove from disbelief, (denial) nevertheless as much probability is given to one side of the question as the other, and we stand, as it were, on an average between two." — 1822, Paul Brown, “Of the Degrees of Faith, according to probability, and force of impression”, in A Disquisition on Faith, Washington, D.C.: […] [F]or the Author[, b]y Andrew Way, page 24:

"These waters wash from the rocks such glistering tinctures, that the ground in some places seemeth as guilded, that better iudgements then ours might haue been perswaded, they contained more then probabilities." — 1625, Capt. John Smith, The Trve Travels, Adventvres and Observations, volume I, Richmond: William W. Gray, published 1819, book II, page 115: