All 4 Uses of
profess
in
King Lear
- In my true heart I find she names my very deed of love; Only she comes too short,—that I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys Which the most precious square of sense possesses, And find I am alone felicitate In your dear highness' love.†
Scene 1.1profess = claim
- Love well our father: To your professed bosoms I commit him: But yet, alas, stood I within his grace, I would prefer him to a better place.†
Scene 1.1 *professed = claimed
- What dost thou profess?†
Scene 1.4profess = claim
- I do profess to be no less than I seem; to serve him truly that will put me in trust; to love him that is honest; to converse with him that is wise and says little; to fear judgment; to fight when I cannot choose; and to eat no fish.†
Scene 1.4
Definitions:
-
(1)
(profess) to claim (openly state) -- sometimes insincerely
-
(2)
(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"