Profess

4 definitions found

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

  Profess \Pro*fess"\ (pr[-o]*f[e^]s"), v. i.
     1. To take a profession upon one's self by a public
        declaration; to confess. --Drayton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To declare friendship. [Obs.] --Shak.


        [1913 Webster]

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

  Profess \Pro*fess"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Professed}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Professing}.] [F. prof[`e]s, masc., professe, fem.,
     professed (monk or nun), L. professus, p. p. of profiteri to
     profess; pro before, forward + fateri to confess, own. See
     {Confess}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To make open declaration of, as of one's knowledge,
        belief, action, etc.; to avow or acknowledge; to confess
        publicly; to own or admit freely. "Hear me profess
        sincerely." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The best and wisest of them all professed
              To know this only, that he nothing knew. --Milton.
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     2. To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put
        on or present an appearance of.
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              I do profess to be no less than I seem. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To present to knowledge of, to proclaim one's self versed
        in; to make one's self a teacher or practitioner of, to
        set up as an authority respecting; to declare (one's self
        to be such); as, he professes surgery; to profess one's
        self a physician.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  profess
       v 1: practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be
            knowledgeable about; "She professes organic chemistry"
       2: confess one's faith in, or allegiance to; "The terrorists
          professed allegiance to the Muslim faith"; "he professes
          to be a Communist"
       3: admit, make a clean breast of; "She confessed that she had
          taken the money" [syn: {concede}, {confess}]
       4: state freely; "The teacher professed that he was not
          generous when it came to giving good grades"
       5: receive into a religious order or congregation
       6: take vows, as in religious order; "she professed herself as
          a nun"
       7: state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later
          admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the
          suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine"
          [syn: {pretend}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  82 Moby Thesaurus words for "profess":
     act, act a part, affect, affirm, allege, announce, annunciate,
     argue, assert, assever, asseverate, assume, aver, avouch, avow,
     bluff, claim, confess, confirm, contend, counterfeit, cover up,
     declare, depose, dissemble, dissimulate, enunciate, express,
     express the belief, fake, feign, four-flush, gammon, have, hold,
     insist, issue a manifesto, lay down, let on, let on like, maintain,
     make a pretense, make as if, make believe, make like, manifesto,
     offer, play, play a part, play possum, playact, predicate, present,
     pretend, pretext, proclaim, proffer, pronounce, protest,
     protest too much, purport, put, put forward, put it, put on, say,
     set down, set forth, sham, simulate, speak, speak out, speak up,
     stand for, stand on, state, submit, swear, tender, utter, vow,
     warrant