Part 2261

<h1>Confervaceous</h1> <Xpage=300>

<hw>Con`fer*va"ceous</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Belonging to the confervae.</def>

<h1>Confervoid</h1> <Xpage=300>

<hw>Con*fer"void</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[<ets>Conferva</ets> + <ets>-oid</ets>.]</ety> <def>Like, or related to, the confervae.</def>

<i>Loudon.</i>

<h1>Confervous</h1> <Xpage=300>

<hw>Con*fer"vous</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Pertaining to confervae; consisting of, or resembling, the confervae.</def>

<blockquote>Yon exiguous pool's <b>confervous</b> scum. <i>O. W. Holmes.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Confess</h1> <Xpage=300>

<hw>Con*fess"</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p.p.</tt> <er>Confessed</er> <tt>(?)</tt>; <tt>p.pr. & vb.n.</tt> <er>Confessing</er>.]</wordforms> <ety>[F. <ets>confesser</ets>, fr. L. <ets>confessus</ets>, p.p. of <ets>confiteri</ets> to confess; <ets>con-</ets> + <ets>fateri</ets> to confess; akin to <ets>fari</ets> to speak. See 2d <er>Ban</er>, <er>Fame</er>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To make acknowledgment or avowal in a matter pertaining to one's self; to acknowledge, own, or admit, as a crime, a fault, a debt.</def>

<blockquote>And there <b>confess</b> Humbly our faults, and pardon beg. <i>Milton.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>I must <b>confess</b> I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect that none of them have mentioned. <i>Addison.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.</def>

<blockquote>Whosoever, therefore, shall <b>confess</b> me before men, him will I <b>confess</b>, also, before my Father which is in heaven. <i>Matt. x. 32.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees <b>confess</b> both. <i>Acts xxiii. 8.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment.</def>

<blockquote>I never gave it him. Send for him hither, And let him <b>confess</b> a truth. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>As I <b>confess</b> it needs must be. <i>Tennyson.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>As an actor <b>confessed</b> without rival to shine. <i>Goldsmith.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <fld>(Eccl.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.</def>

<blockquote>Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of <b>confessing</b> herself to this celebrated father. <i>Addison.</i></blockquote>

<sd>(b)</sd> <def>To hear or receive such confession; -- said of a priest.</def>

<blockquote>He . . . heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were <b>confessed</b>. <i>Ld. Berners.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest.</def>

<blockquote>Tall thriving trees <b>confessed</b> the fruitful mold. <i>Pope.</i></blockquote>

<syn>Syn. -- Admit; grant; concede; avow; own; assent; recognize; prove; exhibit; attest.</syn> <usage> -- <er>To Confess</er>, <er>Acknowledge</er>, <er>Avow</er>. <i>Acknowledge</i> is opposed to <i>conceal</i>. We <i>acknowledge</i> what we feel must or ought to be made known. (See <er>Acknowledge</er>.) <i>Avow</i> is opposed to <i>withhold</i>. We <i>avow</i> when we make an open and public declaration, as against obloquy or opposition; as, to <i>avow</i> one's principles; to <i>avow</i> one's participation in some act. <i>Confess</i> is opposed to <i>deny</i>. We <i>confess</i> (in the ordinary sense of the word) what we feel to have been wrong; as, to <i>confess</i> one's errors or faults. We sometimes use <i>confess</i> and <i>acknowledge</i> when there is no admission of our being in the wrong; as, this, I <i>confess</i>, is my opinion; I <i>acknowledge</i> I have always thought so; but in these cases we mean simply to imply that others may perhaps <i>think</i> us in the wrong, and hence we use the words by way of deference to their opinions. It was in this way that the early Christians were led to use the Latin <i>confiteor</i> and <i>confessio fidei</i> to denote the public declaration of their faith in Christianity; and hence the corresponding use in English of the verb <i>confess</i> and the noun <i>confession</i>.</usage>

<h1>Confess</h1> <Xpage=300>

<hw>Con*fess"</hw>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience.</def>