Pre*tend" (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Pretended; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pretending.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F.
prétendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to
stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before +
tendere to stretch. See Tend, v. t. ]
1. To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to
claim.
Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they
pretend.
Dryden.
2. To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak
or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something
hidden. [R.]
Lest that too heavenly form, pretended
To hellish falsehood, snare them.
Milton.
3. To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put
forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to
show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to
feign; as, to pretend friendship.
This let him know,
Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
Surprisal.
Milton.
4. To intend; to design; to plot; to
attempt. [Obs.]
Such as shall pretend
Malicious practices against his state.
Shak.
5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.]
"His target always over her pretended." Spenser.
Pre*tend", v. i. 1.
To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title;
to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with
to. "Countries that pretend to freedom."
Swift.
For to what fine he would anon pretend,
That know I well.
Chaucer.
2. To hold out the appearance of being,
possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to
sham; as, to pretend to be asleep. "[He]
pretended to drink the waters." Macaulay.
