aver
verb
- assert to be true
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈeɪvə/ / /ˈeɪvɚ/ / /əˈvɜː/ / /əˈvɝ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English aver, avere (“workhorse; any beast of burden (?); things which are owned, possessions, property, wealth; state of being rich, wealth; ownership, possession”) [and other forms], and then either: * from Old French aver, aveir, avoir (“possession, property; (collectively) beasts of burden; domestic animals; cattle”) (modern French avoir (“asset, possession”)), from aveir, avoir (“to have”), from Latin habēre (“to have, hold; to have, own (possessions)”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-, *ǵʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”); or * from Old English eafor (“workhorse; tenant’s obligation to transport goods”), further etymology uncertain.
- A beast of burden; chiefly a workhorse, but also a working ox or other animal.
- An old, useless horse; a nag.
“[…] Gilbert has but two half-starved cowardly peasants to follow him, and but an auld jaded aver to ride upon, fitter for the plough than for manly service; […]”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English averren, from Old French averer, from Early Medieval Latin advērō, a verb derived from Latin vērus (“true”). Compare Modern French avérer.
- To assert the truth of (something); to affirm (something) with confidence; to declare (something) in a positive manner.
“A rare thing to ſee a yong man or woman, that liues idlely, and fares well, of what condition ſoeuer, not to bee in loue. Vbicumqꝫ ſecuritas, ibi libido dominatur, luſt & ſecurity domineere together, as Sᵗ Hierome auerreth.”
“Now as to the Scriptures being the Word of God, and evidently known to be ſo, or evidencing themſelves to be ſo, and that of right, and properly they are to be ſo called; all which thou J. O. very abſolutely averreſt, […]”
- To justify or prove (an allegation or plea that one has made).
- To avouch, prove, or verify the existence or happening of (something), or to offer to do so.
“[…] I return'd with ſimular proofe enough, / To make the Noble Leonatus mad, / By wounding his beleefe in her Renowne, / With tokens thus, and thus: auerring notes / Of Chamber-hanging, Pictures, this her Bracelet / (Oh cunning how I got) nay ſome markes / Of ſecret on her perſon, that he could not / But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, / I hauing tane the forfeyt.”
“Upon a time the Body summon'd all the Members to meet in the Guild for the common good (as Aesops Chronicles averre many stranger Accidents) the head by right takes the first seat, and next to it a huge and monstrous Wen little lesse than the Head it selfe, growing to it by a narrower excrescency.”