A Dictionary of Cont..

now reflect different aspects of presumption. Presumptive,
restricted today almost exclusively to
legal terminology, means affording grounds for
presumption, based on presumption (His title
was presumptive rafher than conferred), lpresumed,
or regarded as such by presumption (The
king’s brother is heir presumptive to the throne
until the heir apparent is born). Presumptuous
reflects our attitude towards those whose ,presumptions
seem to us unwarranted, forw.ard,
impertinent, pushing. The word is derogatlory,
meaning brazen, brash (His adoption of the titles
of the ofice before he was elected was presumptuous,
to say the least).
pretend and profess, in their most familiar senses,
both now carry the connotation of deception-a
sad reflection on the value of human profess:ions
and pretensions.
Pretend, as a transitive verb, now means to
put forward a false appearance of, to feign (Zf Z
pretend illness, I won’t have to go to the party);
to venture or attempt falsely to do something. As
an intransitive verb, pretend means to make believe
(He pretended he was Donald Duck); to
lay claim to (He pretended to the throne); to
make pretensions (He pretended to great skill as
a musician, though he hardly knew a piano from
a drum); to aspire as a suitor or candidate (Don
Cesare pretended to the Infanta’s hand). In its
least common sense as a transitive verb, pretend
may mean to allege or profess, especially insincerely
or falsely (He pretended deep sorrow at
the news of his uncle’s death). The idea of feigning,
apparent here, is now the commonest sense
of profess, which, as a transitive verb, means to
lay claim to a feeling, often insincerely, to pretend
something that one does not feel. Actually,
one can choose between pretend and profess in
this sense only on the basis of whether the claim
is voiced or not. One may pretend sorrow with a
doleful face, profess it with doleful words. In
senses clearly distinguishable from those of pretend,
profess may mean to declare openly, announce
or affirm, avow or acknowledge (I profess
myself unworthy of the honor you intend
me. He never tired of professing allegiance to
the flag), to declare oneself skilled or expert in,
or to claim to have knowledge of (The wise professor
professes only ignorance).
pretend; affect; purport; claim. Pretend and affect
are derogatory. Purport and claim are neutral.
Pretend and affect imply an attempt to create
a false appearance. Pretend, specifically, means
to create an imaginary characteristic or to pIay
a part (He pretended that he came from an old
Virginia family). Affect means to make a consciously
artificial show of having qualities which
one thinks would look well and impress others
(He affected a Harvard accent after two months
Army training in Cambridge).
Purport and claim carry no overtones of insincerity.
Purport means to profess or claim, as
by the thought or meaning which runs through
something (This text purports to be authentic;
certainly the grammar, the spelling, and the local
references are what one would expect). To purport
is to imply, to convey to the mind as the
391 prevent
meaning or thing intended (This purports to be
an official declaration of foreign policy). Claim,
the less formal word, means to assert or maintain
as a fact (He claimed that there had been
violations of election procedure).
pretender; Pretender. A pretender in current
usage is definitely one whose pretensions are
without foundation, a claimant to a throne or
office who has no just title to support his claim.
In the application of the term to the son and
grandson of James II of England, however, the
term is neutral, and the word is always capitalized.
The Old Pretender (which title has the further
unfortunate connotation of long-practiced
feigning) was James Francis Edward Stuart
(1688-1766). The Young Pretender (also known
as the Chevalier and Bonnie Prince Charlie) was
Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788).
preternatural. See unnatural.
pretty. The adjective pretty has had a great many
meanings, including deceitful, tricky, cunning,
clever, skillful, admirable, pleasing. In presentday
English it means pleasing to the eye. In this
sense, it has an adverb form prettily, as in the
child was prettily dressed.
The form pretty is also used as an adverb
meaning moderately, in some degree, as in we
are pretty sure and he gave a pretty full account.
Pretty does not work successfully as a synonym
for very. It is not an intensive, but weakens the
word it qualifies. Pretty sure means not completely
sure, and pretty well in I’m feeling pretty
well is equivalent to the old-fashioned tolerable.
pretty kettle of fish. As an ironical term for some
irritating situation, some embarrassing predicament,
pretty kettle of fish is now a cliche. The
origin of the phrase is uncertain. It came into use
in the middle of the eighteenth century. Thomas
Newte in his A tour in England and Scotland in
1785 (1788) says that it was customary for
gentlemen who lived near the Tweed “to entertain
their neighbours and friends with a Fete
Champetre, which they call giving ‘a kettle of
fish’ ” in the course of which “a fire is kindled
and live salmon thrown into boiling kettles.”
Whether these merrymakings degenerated into
brawls or whether the figurative application of
the term derived from the agonized thrashing of
the salmon in the boiling water is not known.
prevaricate, which derives from a Latin word
meaning to walk crookedly, to deviate, is a slightly
affected term for equivocate. It is often used as
a euphemism for lie, it being felt, apparently,
that an elegant word covers up an inelegant act.
prevent; hinder. To prevent something is to stop
it by forestalling action and hence rendering it
impossible (He prevented my escape by taking
away my clothes). To hinder something is to
keep it back by delaying or stopping progress of
an action (The advance of the army was hindered
by the weather and the condition of the roads).
Prevent has more the sense of complete stoppage,
hinder more the sense of a clogging delay.
Prevent means, etymologically, to go before,
and the student of English literature will often
come upon obsolete meanings of the word that
will puzzle him unless he bears its etymology in