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Giving, indicating, or having a preference or precedence; as, a preferential claim; preferential shares.

The act of announcing or proclaiming beforehand. [Obs.]

To claim by prescription; to claim a title to a thing on the ground of immemorial use and enjoyment, that is, by a custom having the force of law.

A prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue immemorial use and enjoyment; the right or title acquired by possession had during the time and in the manner fixed by law. Bacon. That profound reverence for law and prescription which has long been characteristic of Englishmen. Macaulay.…

To aim, point, or direct, as a weapon; as, to present a pistol or the point of a sword to the breast of another. Pesent arms (Mil.), the command in response to which the gun is carried perpendicularly in front of the center of the body, and held there with the left hand grasping it at the lower band, and the right hand…

To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim. Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend. Dryden.

A pretender; a claimant.

One who lays claim, or asserts a title (to something); a claimant. Specifically,

The character, right, or claim of a pretender. Swift.

The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. Spenser. Primogeniture can not have any pretense to a right of solely inheriting property or power. Locke. I went to Lambeth with Sir R. Brown's pretense to the wardenship of Merton College, Oxford. Evelyn.

The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title. The arrogant pretensions of Glengarry contributed to protract the discussion. Macaulay.

Full of pretension; disposed to lay claim to more than is one's; presuming; assuming. -- Pre*ten"tious*ly, adv. -- Pre*ten"tious*ness, n.

The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin. "They that shooten nearest the prick." Spenser.

Precedence; superior rank. Shak. Priority of debts, a superior claim to payment, or a claim to payment before others.

The act of proclaiming; official or general notice; publication. King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted. 1 Kings xv. 22.

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. Shak.

Openly declared, avowed, acknowledged, or claimed; as, a professed foe; a professed tyrant; a professed Christian. The professed (R. C. Ch.) , a certain class among the Jesuits bound by a special vow. See the note under Jesuit.

The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith. A solemn vow, promise, and profession. Bk. of Com. Prayer.

act; a declaration which gives to the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Gal. iii. 18.

ve right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a thing; ownership; title. Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood. Shak. Shall man assume a property in man Wordsworth.