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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.

By profession.

renunciation or repudiation. [Obs.] An abrenunciation of that truth which he so long had professed, and still believed. Fuller.

; exactness; nicety; correctness; as, the value of testimony depends on its accuracy. The professed end [of logic] is to teach men to think, to judge, and to reason, with precision and accuracy. Reid. The accuracy with which the piston fits the sides. Lardner.

make some change in the details or provisions of a bill or measure while on its passage, professedly for its improvement.

An abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed; a total desertion of departure from one's faith, principles, or party; esp., the renunciation of a religious faith; as, Julian's apostasy from Christianity.

To renounce totally a religious belief once professed; to forsake one's church, the faith or principles once held, or the party to which one has previously adhered. He apostatized from his old faith in facts, took to believing in Carlyle.

A member of one of certain ascetic sects which at various times professed to imitate the practice of the apostles.

o fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed.

sserted the lawfulness of the burgess oath (in which burgesses profess "the true religion professed within the realm"), the opposite party being called antiburghers.

A professed admirer of a married woman; a dangler about women.

One who writes a commentary or comments; an expositor; an annotator. The commentator's professed object is to explain, to enforce, to illustrate doctrines claimed as true. Whewell.

Any summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to. I love him not, nor fear him; there's my creed. Shak. Apostles' creed, Athanasian creed, Nicene creed. See under Apostle, Athanasian, Nicene.

A member of a social and benevolent order, founded in London in 1781, and professedly based on the traditions of the ancient Druids. Lodges or groves of the society are established in other countries. Druid stones, a name given, in the south of England, to weatherworn, rough pillars of gray sandstone scattered over the…

ighters wear boxing gloves. -- Glove money or silver. (a) A tip or gratuity to servants, professedly to buy gloves with. (b) (Eng. Law.) A reward given to officers of courts; also, a fee given by the sheriff of a country to the clerk of assize and judge's officers, when there are no offenders to be executed. -- Glove…

e of the aspect of the heavens at the moment of a person's birth, by which the astrologer professed to foretell the events of the person's life; especially, the sign of the zodiac rising above the horizon at such a moment.

Wanting the legal or constitutional qualifications; inadmissible; as, a person professedly wanting in religious belief is an incompetent witness in a court of law or equity; incompetent evidence. Richard III. had a resolution, out of hatred to his brethren, to disable their issues, upon false and incompetent pretexts,…

ion; hypocritical; deceitfulness; hollowness; untrustworthiness; as, the insincerity of a professed friend; the insincerity of professions of regard. What men call policy and knowledge of the world, is commonly no other thing than dissimulation and insincerity. Blair.

of the Bath. See under Bath, and Companion. Knights of labor, a secret organization whose professed purpose is to secure and maintain the rights of workingmen as respects their relations to their employers. [U. S.] -- Knights of Pythias, a secret order, founded in Washington, d.C., in 1864, for social and charitable pu…

The Scriptures of the Mohammedans, containing the professed revelations to Mohammed; -- called also Alcoran. [Written also Kuran or Quran.]