'Probable cause' definitions:

Definition of 'probable cause'

(from WordNet)
noun
(law) evidence sufficient to warrant an arrest or search and seizure; "a magistrate determined that there was probable cause to search the house"

Definition of 'Probable cause'

From: GCIDE
  • Probable \Prob"a*ble\, a. [L. probabilis, fr. probare to try, approve, prove: cf. F. probable. See Prove, and cf. Provable.] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. Capable of being proved. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Having more evidence for than against; supported by evidence which inclines the mind to believe, but leaves some room for doubt; likely. [1913 Webster]
  • That is accounted probable which has better arguments producible for it than can be brought against it. --South. [1913 Webster]
  • I do not say that the principles of religion are merely probable; I have before asserted them to be morally certain. --Bp. Wilkins. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Rendering probable; supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating; as, probable evidence; probable presumption. --Blackstone. [1913 Webster]
  • Probable cause (Law), a reasonable ground of presumption that a charge is, or my be, well founded.
  • Probable error (of an observation, or of the mean of a number), that within which, taken positively and negatively, there is an even chance that the real error shall lie. Thus, if 3[sec] is the probable error in a given case, the chances that the real error is greater than 3[sec] are equal to the chances that it is less. The probable error is computed from the observations made, and is used to express their degree of accuracy.
  • The probable, that which is within the bounds of probability; that which is not unnatural or preternatural; -- opposed to the marvelous. [1913 Webster]