Definition of predicate:
(n) :
the part of the sentence (or
clause) which states something about the subject; a
statement that may be true or false depending on the
values of its
variables
"in "The dog barked very loudly", the subject is "the dog" and the predicate is "barked very loudly"."
"1859: There was a character about Madame Defarge, from which one might have predicated that she did not often make mistakes against herself in any of the reckonings over which she presided.  Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities"