Both Uses of
profess
in
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- When Tess had occupied herself about an hour the next morning in altering and improving the arrangements, according to her skilled ideas as the daughter of a professed poulterer, the door in the wall opened and a servant in white cap and apron entered.†
Chpt 1professed = claimed
- Tess could whistle like most other country-girls, though the accomplishment was one which she did not care to profess in genteel company.†
Chpt 1 *profess = claim
Definitions:
-
(1)
(profess) to claim (openly state) -- sometimes 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"