Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
predicate [Lat. praedicare ‘to declare; make mention of,’ corresponds to Grk 
]
1 In school grammar a verbal constituent which, in conjunction with the subject, forms the minimal statement of an utterance. The predicate expresses actions, processes, and states that refer to the subject (
predication). It consists of simple or compound verb forms or of a copular verb and a predicative complement.
The predicate is linked to the subject through agreement and determines the number and kind of obligatory complements ( obligatory vs optional) through valence of the verb. The position of the finite verb form in English depends on the sentence type: verb first in interrogatives (except wh-questions) and imperatives, otherwise after the subject. Communicatively, the predicate usually refers to new, unknown information, in contrast to the subject, which generally refers to known or previously mentioned information ( theme vs rheme, topic vs comment).
The predicate is not the same thing as the verb phrase in generative transformational grammar, since, unlike the VP, in the tree diagram it dominates not only the verb, but also all elements ( objects) dependent on the verb. ( also part of speech, subject vs predicate)
2 In formal logic, especially predicate logic, the linguistic expression which, together with the expressions for the arguments, forms a proposition. The following expressions are (logical) predicates: (a) x sleeps/x is young/x was an atheist/x are reassured/x is thirsty; (b) x is younger than y/x loves y; (c) x lies between y and z/x points to y through z. Depending on the number of positions for arguments, predicates in (a) are one-place (they indicate characteristics of their argument), those in (b) and (c) are multi-place (they express relations between arguments). Generative semantics is based on this definition of predicate.
3 semantic primitive
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