Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Intimation

Intimation , noun

[Latin intimatio: compare French intimation.]

1.
The act of intimating; also, the thing intimated.
2.
Announcement; declaration. — Macaulay
They made an edict with an intimation that whosoever killed a stork, should be banished. — Holland
3.
A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference; as, he had given only intimations of his design.
Without mentioning the king of England, or giving the least intimation that he was sent by him. — Bp. Burnet