Search the Dictionary

on; to cause to accrue to, or to come into possession of; to acquire or provide for one's self or for another; to gain; to get; to obtain by any means, as by purchase or loan. If we procure not to ourselves more woe. Milton.

To present to knowledge of, to proclaim one's self versed in; to make one's self a teacher or practitioner of, to set up as an authority respecting; to declare (one's self to be such); as, he professes surgery; to profess one's self a physician.

the occupation, if not mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one's self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on che…

y promised a reward. Promised land. See Land of promise, under Land. -- To promise one's self. (a) To resolve; to determine; to vow. (b) To be assured; to have strong confidence. I dare promise myself you will attest the truth of all I have advanced. Rambler.

Inclination of mind, heart, or temper; propension; disposition; as, proneness to self-gratification.

To set before one's self or others as a purpose formed; hence, to purpose; to intend. I propose to relate, in several volumes, the history of the people of New England. Palfrey. To propose to one's self, to intend; to design.

The act of setting one's self to sale, or of devoting to infamous purposes what is in one's power; as, the prostitution of abilities; the prostitution of the press. "Mental prostitution." Byron.

Possessing or showing too great self-esteem; overrating one's excellences; hence, arrogant; haughty; lordly; presumptuous. Nor much expect A foe so proud will first the weaker seek. Milton. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty ! Shak. And shades impervious to the proud world's glare. Keble.…

Proceeding from, or dictated or characterized by, prudence; prudent; discreet; sometimes, selfish or pecuniary as distinguished from higher motives or influences; as, prudential motives. " A prudential line of conduct." Sir W. Scott.

chology, the science conversant about the phenomena of the mind, or conscious subject, or self. Sir W. Hamilton.

To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, or the like; -- often with up. Puffed up with military success. Jowett (Thucyd. )

To exert one's self in an act or motion of drawing or hauling; to tug; as, to pull at a rope. To pull apart, to become separated by pulling; as, a rope will pull apart. -- To pull up, to draw the reins; to stop; to halt. To pull through, to come successfully to the end of a difficult undertaking, a dangerous sickness,…

To put forth effort to obtain anything; to strive; to exert one's self. [Obs.] Duke John of Brabant purchased greatly that the Earl of Flanders should have his daughter in marriage. Ld. Berners.

The clearing of one's self from a crime of which one was publicly suspected and accused. It was either canonical, which was prescribed by the canon law, the form whereof used in the spiritual court was, that the person suspected take his oath that he was clear of the matter objected against him, and bring his honest ne…

To take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft; to filch. Had from his wakeful custody purloined The guarded gold. Milton. when did the muse from Fletcher scenes purloin Dryden.

That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan. He will his firste purpos modify. Chaucer. As my eternal purpose hath decreed. Milton. The flighty purpose never is o'er…

(e) To push from land; as, to put off a boat. -- To put on or upon. (a) To invest one's self with, as clothes; to assume. "Mercury . . . put on the shape of a man." L'Estrange. (b) To impute (something) to; to charge upon; as, to put blame on or upon another. (c) To advance; to promote. [Obs.] "This came handsomely t…

To seize and bear away, as the mind or thoughts; to transport out of one's self; to affect with ecstasy or rapture; as, rapt into admiration. I'm rapt with joy to see my Marcia's tears. Addison. Rapt into future times, the bard begun. Pope.

The state or condition of being rapt, or carried away from one's self by agreeable excitement; violence of a pleasing passion; extreme joy or pleasure; ecstasy. Music, when thus applied, raises in the mind of the hearer great conceptions; it strengthens devotion, and advances praise into rapture. Addison. You grow corr…

to the current divided by the current, that is, the component of the impedance due to the self-inductance or capacity of the circuit.