▪ I. proˈfer, v.1 Obs. or rare arch.
Also 4 profre, 4–7 ˈprofer, 6 proferre.
[app. a. F. proférer (13th c. in Brunet Lat.), recorded in sense ‘utter, pronounce, dire tout haut’ (see sense 3 here), = Pr. proferre, Cat. proferer, It. profferire († proferire, Florio) to utter, pronounce, speak, ad. L. profer-re to bring forth, produce, utter, bring forward, adduce, also (rarely) to offer, proffer. From the interchange of f and ff, often confused in form, and sometimes app. in sense, with proffer, to which sense 1 may even belong.
It is only in later examples that profer distinctly appears.]
† 1. trans. To put forth, extend; in first quot. intr. for refl. to project. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1463 Pinnacles pyȝt þer apert þat profert bitwene. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 141 Þe paume is purely þe hande and profreth forth þe fyngres To mynystre and to make. 1578 Banister Hist. Man vii. 97 This inferiour trunke..out of his hynder part profereth Arteries to the spaces of the ribbes. |
† 2. To bring forth, produce, yield. Obs.
| c 1425 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 42 Neyr the tyme that the fruyt shulde be proferid forthe. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 232 The fruyteful moder hathe profered a byrthe. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 249 The said Islands..seem to proffer..plenty of all kinde of our graine. |
3. To bring out (words), utter, pronounce. Now rare.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1096 When the peopull were pesit, he proffert þes wordes. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 432/1 He comyng to the last houre,..and profferyng the laste wordes I commend my sowle in to thyn handes deyed. c 1489 ― Blanchardyn xxxiv. 125 After many wordes proferred & sayde. a 1500 in Arnolde's Chron. (1811) 273 Whether priestis can proferre [printed proforre] the wordis off the canon and baptym. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Prolation, pronouncing or profering of wordes. 1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry I. 129 Not a word Had either of us yet proferr'd. |
† 4. To bring or put near or into contact with something; to present. Obs.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §138 Than proferre thy graffe in-to the stocke. 1698 Ballard in Phil. Trans. XX. 418, I took my Knife,..and profering it to the Needle, it drew the North Pole. |
▪ II. † proˈfer, -ˈferre, v.2 Obs.
[? a. OF. proferer = préferer (Godef. Compl.).]
A by-form of (or ? error for) prefer v. (see pro-1 3); to promote, advance. Hence † proˈferring vbl. n.
| 1462 J. Paston in P. Lett. II. 114 For good will that the seid Sir John Fastolff had to the proferryng of your seid besecher. a 1500 in Arnolde's Chron. T iv, Euery trew counceler..ought..to..promote encrece proferre and auaunce the wele and prosperyte of his lorde. |
▪ III. profer, -ere, -erre
obs. forms of proffer.