avow

present singular third person avows · participle present avowing · participle past avowed · past avowed

1. transitiveTo declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.

   […] in 1786, and for some period later, there were few, if any, prominent Americans, who avowed themselves in favor of broadly democratic systems.

   1858, Henry Stephens Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson, volume 1, page 461

2. transitiveTo bind or devote by a vow.

   No man may halewe and avowe the firste gendrid thingis that perteynen to the Lord, whether it is oxe, whether scheep, tho ben the Lordis part.

   No man may hollow and avow the firstborn that pertains to the Lord, whether it be an ox or sheep, they are the Lord's portion.

   c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, Leviticus 27:26, page 362, column 2

   Synonyms: consecrate, dedicate, hallow, sanctify, behallow, bless, canonize, consecrate

3. lawTo acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See avowry.

   avow himself the accomplice of his crimes

   1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC

1. obsoleteavowal

   without thy Knowledge and Avow

   1697, Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC