Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Profess
Pro-fess′
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Professed
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Professing
.] [F.
profès
, masc., professe
, fem., professed (monk or nun), L. professus
, p. p. of profiteri
to profess; pro
before, forward + fateri
to confess, own. See Confess
.] 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.
The best and wisest of them all
To know this only, that he nothing knew.
professed
To know this only, that he nothing knew.
Milton.
2.
To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put on or present an appearance of.
I do
profess
to be no less than I seem. Shakespeare
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.Pro-fess′
(prō̍-fĕs′)
, Verb.
I.
1.
To take a profession upon one's self by a public declaration; to confess.
Drayton.
2.
To declare friendship.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Webster 1828 Edition
Profess
PROFESS'
,Verb.
T.
1.
To make open declaration of; to avow or acknowledge. Let no man who professes himself a christian, keep so heathenish a family as not to see God by daily worshipped in it.
They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. Tit.1.
2.
To declare in strong terms. Then will I profess to them, I never knew you. Matt.7.
3.
To make a show of any sentiments by loud declaration. To your professing bosoms I commit him.
4.
To declare publicly one's skill in any art or science, for inviting employment; as, to profess one's self a physician; he professes surgery.PROFESS'
,Verb.
I.
Definition 2024
profess
profess
English
Verb
profess (third-person singular simple present professes, present participle professing, simple past and past participle professed)
- (transitive) To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order. (Chiefly in passive.) [from 14th c.]
- 2000, Butler's Lives of the Saints, p.118:
- This swayed the balance decisively in Mary's favour, and she was professed on 8 September 1578.
- 2000, Butler's Lives of the Saints, p.118:
- (reflexive) To declare oneself (to be something). [from 16th c.]
- 2011, Alex Needham, The Guardian, 9 Dec.:
- Kiefer professes himself amused by the fuss that ensued when he announced that he was buying the Mülheim-Kärlich reactor […].
- 2011, Alex Needham, The Guardian, 9 Dec.:
- (transitive, intransitive) To declare; to assert, affirm. [from 16th c.]
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, First Folio 1623:
- He professes to haue receiued no sinister measure from his Iudge, but most willingly humbles himselfe to the determination of Iustice […].
- Milton
- The best and wisest of them all professed / To know this only, that he nothing knew.
- 1974, ‘The Kansas Kickbacks’, Time, 11 Feb 1974:
- The Governor immediately professed that he knew nothing about the incident.
- 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
- WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, […]. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, First Folio 1623:
- (transitive) To make a claim (to be something), to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity. [from 16th c.]
- 2010, Hélène Mulholland, The Guardian, 28 Sep 2010:
- Ed Miliband professed ignorance of the comment when he was approached by the BBC later.
- 2010, Hélène Mulholland, The Guardian, 28 Sep 2010:
- (transitive) To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.). [from 16th c.]
- 1983, Alexander Mcleish, The Frontier Peoples of India, Mittal Publications 1984, p.122:
- The remainder of the population, about two-thirds, belongs to the Mongolian race and professes Buddhism.
- 1983, Alexander Mcleish, The Frontier Peoples of India, Mittal Publications 1984, p.122:
- (transitive) To work as a professor of; to teach. [from 16th c.]
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:
- he was a Spaniard, who about two hundred yeeres since professed Physicke in Tholouse […].
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.12:
- (transitive, now rare) To claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter). [from 16th c.]