(v. t.) To make open declaration of, as of one's knowledge,
belief, action, etc.; to avow or acknowledge; to confess publicly; to
own or admit freely.
(v. t.) To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to
put on or present an appearance of.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. i.) To take a profession upon one's self by a public
declaration; to confess.
(v. i.) To declare friendship.