Pretending

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pretend \Pre*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pretended}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Pretending}.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F.
     pr['e]tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward,
     pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch.
     See {Tend}, v. t. ]
     1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for
        something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
        [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
              To hellish falsehood, snare them.     --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or
        offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to
        show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to
        simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              This let him know,
              Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
              Surprisal.                            --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Such as shall pretend
              Malicious practices against his state. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always
        over her pretended." --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pretending
       n : the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was
           only pretending" [syn: {pretense}, {pretence}, {simulation},
            {feigning}]