Real Dictionary

syllogism in American English
an argument or form of reasoning in which two statements or premises are made and a logical conclusion is drawn from them Ex.: All mammals are warmblooded (major premise); whales are mammals (minor premise); therefore, whales are warmblooded (conclusion)
noun: an argument the conclusion of which is supported by two premises, of which one (major premise) contains the term (major term) that is the predicate of the conclusion, and the other (minor premise) contains the term (minor term) that is the subject of the

syllogism in British English
noun: a deductive inference consisting of two premises and a conclusion, all of which are categorial propositions. The subject of the conclusion is the minor term and its predicate the major term; the middle term occurs in both premises but not the conclusion.