All 3 Uses of
profess
in
Gulliver's Travels
- He professed both to abominate and despise all mystery, refinement, and intrigue, either in a prince or a minister.†
Chpt 2 *professed = claimed
- He received my proposition with more compliance than is usual among writers, especially those of the projecting species, professing "he would be glad to receive further information."†
Chpt 3professing = claiming
- But he added, "that since I professed so inviolable an attachment to truth, I must give him my word and honour to bear him company in this voyage, without attempting any thing against my life; or else he would continue me a prisoner till we arrived at Lisbon."†
Chpt 4professed = claimed
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"