From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Pretend \Pre*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pretended}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Pretending}.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F.
pr['e]tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward,
pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch.
See {Tend}, v. t. ]
1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.
[1913 Webster]
Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for
something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden.
[R.]
[1913 Webster]
Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
To hellish falsehood, snare them. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or
offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to
show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to
simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.
[1913 Webster]
This let him know,
Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
Surprisal. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
4. To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Such as shall pretend
Malicious practices against his state. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always
over her pretended." --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
pretending
n 1: the act of giving a false appearance; "his conformity was
only pretending" [syn: {pretense}, {pretence},
{pretending}, {simulation}, {feigning}]
|
