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To fix with power or firmness; to establish; to mark out. When he appointed the foundations of the earth. Prov. viii. 29.

The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception. Simple apprehension denotes no more than the soul's naked intellection of an object. Glanvill.

To sanction officially; to ratify; to confirm; as, to approve the decision of a court-martial.

The act of ascribing, imputing, or affirming to belong; also, that which is ascribed.

To affirm; to declare with assurance, or plainly and strongly; to state positively; to aver; to asseverate. Nothing is more shameful . . . than to assert anything to be done without a cause. Ray.

The act of asserting, or that which is asserted; positive declaration or averment; affirmation; statement asserted; position advanced. There is a difference between assertion and demonstration. Macaulay.

Positive; affirming confidently; affirmative; peremptory. In a confident and assertive form. Glanvill. As*sert"ive*ly, adv. -- As*sert"ive*ness, n.

One who asserts or avers; one who maintains or vindicates a claim or a right; an affirmer, supporter, or vindicator; a defender; an asserter. The assertors of liberty said not a word. Macaulay. Faithful assertor of thy country's cause. Prior.

Affirming; maintaining. Arguments . . . assertory, not probatory. Jer. Taylor. An assertory, not a promissory, declaration. Bentham. A proposition is assertory, when it enounces what is known as actual. Sir W. Hamilton.

To affirm or aver positively, or with solemnity.

The act of asseverating, or that which is asseverated; positive affirmation or assertion; solemn declaration. Another abuse of the tongue I might add, -- vehement asseverations upon slight and trivial occasions. Ray.

The state of being assured; firm persuasion; full confidence or trust; freedom from doubt; certainty. Let us draw with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Heb. x. 22.

To confirm; to make certain or secure. And it shall be assured to him. Lev. xxvii. 19. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 1 John iii. 19.

To bear witness to; to certify; to affirm to be true or genuine; as, to attest the truth of a writing, a copy of record. Facts . . . attested by particular pagan authors. Addison.

n as indicating action, feeling, or mood; as, in times of trouble let a nation preserve a firm attitude; one's mental attitude in respect to religion. The attitude of the country was rapidly changing. J. R. Green. To strike an attitude, to take an attitude for mere effect.

To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to warrant; as, to authorize a report. A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shak.

To affirm with confidence; to declare in a positive manner, as in confidence of asserting the truth. It is sufficient that the very fact hath its foundation in truth, as I do seriously aver is the case. Fielding. Then all averred I had killed the bird. Coleridge.

The act of averring, or that which is averred; affirmation; positive assertion. Signally has this averment received illustration in the course of recent events. I. Taylor.

To declare or assert positively and as matter of fact; to affirm openly. If this which he avouches does appear. Shak. Such antiquities could have been avouched for the Irish. Spenser.

An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative; as, "To call for the ayes and noes;" "The ayes have it."