All 6 Uses of
profess
in
Bleak House
- Society, which has taken upon itself the general arrangement of the whole system of spoons and professes to have a spoon for our young friend, does NOT produce that spoon; and our young friend, therefore, says 'You really must excuse me if I seize it.'†
Chpt 31-33professes = claims
- Mr. Skimpole professed himself much flattered and honoured.†
Chpt 43-45 *professed = claimed
- And hence I became aware of the circumstance for which I have professed my regret.†
Chpt 43-45
- His visitor professes his regret to hear it and asks him does he remember Jo.†
Chpt 46-48professes = claims
- "For there have been many little consultations and attendances of late, sir," observes Vholes, turning over the leaves of his diary, "and these things mount up, and I don't profess to be a man of capital.†
Chpt 37-39
- Can you fully trust me, and thoroughly rely on what I profess, Esther?†
Chpt 43-45
Definitions:
-
(1)
(profess) to claim or declare -- often insincerely
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, profess can mean:- to teach or be knowledgeable of -- as in "profess chemistry"
- practice as a profession -- as in "profess medicine"
- proclaim belief in or allegiance to -- as in "profess Catholicism"