A logical deduction.
The usage of ergot infested grain to poison animals.
The effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the fungus Claviceps purpurea which infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs, consisting of convulsive and gangrenous symptoms.
The plant disease caused by ergot.
The antecedent of a conditional statement.
An assumption taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.
Used loosely, a tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon or scientific problem that can be tested by further observation, investigation and/or experimentation. As a scientific term of art, see the attached quotation. Compare to theory, and quotation given there.