avow

Borrowed from Old French avouer, from Latin advocare (“to call to, call upon, hence to call as a witness, defender, patron, or advocate”), from ad (“to”) + vocare (“to call”). Doublet of advoke, avouch, and advocate.

• IPA^(key): /əˈvaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ

avow (third-person singular simple present avows, present participle avowing, simple past and past participle avowed)

1. (transitive) To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.
   • 1858, Henry Stephens Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson, volume 1, page 461:

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

2. (transitive) To bind or devote by a vow.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wyclif to this entry?)

3. (law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See avowry.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Blackstone to this entry?)

• disavow

avow

1. (obsolete) avowal

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

• avow in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• avow in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• avow at OneLook Dictionary Search