Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To affirm positively; declare.
- v. Law To assert formally as a fact.
- v. Law To justify or prove.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To assert the truth of.
- To confirm; verify; prove to be true.
- To affirm with confidence; declare in a positive or peremptory manner.
- In law, to avouch or verify; offer to verify; allege as a fact.
- To assert the existence of; offer in evidence.
- Synonyms Affirm, Declare, etc. (see assert), say, allege, protest, insist, maintain.
- n. Substance; property; estate.
- n. plural Live stock; cattle; domestic animals.—
- n. A beast of burden; a draft-ox or draft-horse; an old horse.
Wiktionary
- n. Possessions, property, belongings, wealth.
- n. A work-horse, working ox, or other beast of burden.
- v. To assert the truth of, to affirm with confidence; to declare in a positive manner.
- v. To prove or justify a plea.
- v. To avouch, prove, or verify; to offer to verify.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A work horse, or working ox.
- v. To assert, or prove, the truth of.
- v. To avouch or verify; to offer to verify; to prove or justify. See Averment.
- v. To affirm with confidence; to declare in a positive manner, as in confidence of asserting the truth.
WordNet 3.0
- v. to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
- v. report or maintain
Etymologies
- Middle English averren, from Old French averer, from Vulgar Latin *advērāre : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin vērus, true; see wērə-o- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“The north of France, and not Germany as Germans aver, is the peculiar home of this noble form of art, which all the surrounding nations learn.”
“But after fair translation of its old French body -- "aver" -- into English, and only "horse" is found, and the word becomes "horsage," the change tends to confusion.”
“Mark_W @ 218: Anyone who can use "aver" correctly is probably going to fit right in here.”
“In these islands we still apply the old French term "aver," _averium_, in”
“In France "aver" denoted the animal produce or stock on a farm; and there were "averia lanata" likewise.”
“_dictionary_ defines "aver" (French) as denoting the _annual_ stock or produce of a farm?”
“Women believe more fervently in God, they aver that religion is more important to their daily lives, they pray more often, they read scripture more often and interpret it more literally, they talk about religion more often—in short, by virtually every measure they are more religious.”
“And so wild is the mind of man that Mr. Pike and Mr. Mellaire still aver that on occasion they have known gales to blow ships from east to west around the Horn.”
“I cittadini-giornalisti hanno criticato [in] le autorità e i media per aver ignorato [...] 9 January 2010, 6: 33 am”
Global Voices in English » India: Manipur Erupts Over A Murder
“I cittadini-giornalisti hanno criticato [in] le autorità e i media per aver ignorato [...] 10 January 2010, 13: 36 pm”
Global Voices in English » India: Manipur Erupts Over A Murder
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aver’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 314 more...
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 137 more...
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High Brow
tremulous, vigorous, unction, coadjutor, dotage, mirth, obtuseness, torpid, talisman, infirm, score, subsistence and 49 more...
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WOOZ
Words contained in the screenplay of Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
Comments show the actual "line" from the film.
The words are tagged for grade-levelpusillanimous, genuflect, cataclysmic, vernacular, peasantry, aver, caliginous, tedious, advent, careworn, bovine, commodity and 34 more...

bilby Mmmm, frowning dictionaries. Jun 2, 2010
dbekeny CORONER
As Coroner, I must aver
I thoroughly examined her.
And she's not only merely dead,
She's really, most sincerely dead.
Jun 2, 2010
vanishedone This turns up in some old compound forms: aver-silver, averpenny, aver-corn, averland. The O.E.D. quotes sources that associate it with average in this context, but frowns at their 'very doubtful value'. Jan 10, 2009