Chapter Productivity to Profligate of P by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

2. To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put on or present an appearance of.

I do profess to be no less than I seem.

Shak.

3. 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.

Profess
(Pro*fess") v. i.

1. To take a profession upon one's self by a public declaration; to confess. Drayton.

2. To declare friendship. [Obs.] Shak.

Professed
(Pro*fessed") a. 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.

Professedly
(Pro*fess"ed*ly) adv. By profession.

Profession
(Pro*fes"sion) n. [F., fr. L. professio. See Profess, v.]

1. The act of professing or claiming; open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgment; as, professions of friendship; a profession of faith.

A solemn vow, promise, and profession.

Bk. of Com. Prayer.

2. That which one professed; a declaration; an avowal; a claim; as, his professions are insincere.

The Indians quickly perceive the coincidence or the contradiction between professions and conduct.

J. Morse.

3. That of which one professed knowledge; the occupation, if not mechanical, agricultural, or the like, to which one devotes one's self; the business which one professes to understand, and to follow for subsistence; calling; vocation; employment; as, the profession of arms; the profession of a clergyman, lawyer, or physician; the profession of lecturer on chemistry.

Hi tried five or six professions in turn.

Macaulay.

The three professions, or learned professions, are, especially, theology, law, and medicine.

4. The collective body of persons engaged in a calling; as, the profession distrust him.

5. (Eccl. Law.) The act of entering, or becoming a member of, a religious order.

Professional
(Pro*fes"sion*al) a.

1. Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession; as, professional knowledge; professional conduct. "Pride, not personal, but professional." Macaulay. "A professional sneerer." De Quincey.

2. Engaged in by professionals; as, a professional race; — opposed to amateur.

Professional
(Pro*fes"sion*al), n. A person who prosecutes anything professionally, or for a livelihood, and not in the character of an amateur; a professional worker.