Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To give testimony in a legal case or before a deliberative body.
  • intransitive verb To express or declare a strong belief, especially to make a declaration of faith.
  • intransitive verb To make a statement based on personal knowledge in support of an asserted fact; bear witness.
  • intransitive verb To serve as evidence.
  • intransitive verb To declare publicly; make known.
  • intransitive verb To state or affirm as testimony in a legal case or before a deliberative body.
  • intransitive verb To be evidence of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bear witness; make declaration, especially for the purpose of communicating to others a knowledge of some matter not known to them, or for the purpose of establishing some fact.
  • In law, to give testimony, under oath or solemn affirmation, in a cause depending before a court.
  • To serve as evidence; be testimony or proof.
  • To bear witness to; affirm or declare as fact or truth.
  • In law, to state or declare under oath or affirmation, as a witness, before a tribunal.
  • To give evidence of; evince; demonstrate; show.
  • To make known; publish or declare freely.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To make a solemn declaration, verbal or written, to establish some fact; to give testimony for the purpose of communicating to others a knowledge of something not known to them.
  • intransitive verb (Law) To make a solemn declaration under oath or affirmation, for the purpose of establishing, or making proof of, some fact to a court; to give testimony in a cause depending before a tribunal.
  • intransitive verb To declare a charge; to protest; to give information; to bear witness; -- with against.
  • adverb In a testy manner; fretfully; peevishly; with petulance.
  • transitive verb To bear witness to; to support the truth of by testimony; to affirm or declare solemny.
  • transitive verb (Law) To affirm or declare under oath or affirmation before a tribunal, in order to prove some fact.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to make a declaration, or give evidence, under oath
  • verb to make a statement based on personal knowledge or faith

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb give testimony in a court of law
  • verb provide evidence for

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English testifien, from Latin testificārī : testis, witness; see trei- in Indo-European roots + -ficārī, -fy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English testifien, from Old French testifier, from Latin testificārī, present active infinitive of testificor ("I bear witness"), from testis ("a witness") + facere ("to make") (see -fy).

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