assert (asert)

t. [ The people of Israel, being lately oppre ed in Egypt, were a erted by God into a state of liberty. Bp. Patrick, on Num. xxiii. 2. 2. To vindicate, maintain, or defend by words or measures; support the cause or claims of; vindicate a claim or title to: now used only of immaterial objects or reflexively: as, to a ert our rights and liberties; he a erted himself boldly. I could and would myself a ert the British from his scandalous pen. Fuller . Often, in the parting hour, Victorious love a erts his power O'er coldne and disdain. Scott , Marmion, v. 7. IMG:content-1259.png:[blocks in formation] There is no proof of what is so commonly a erted, that the heel is longer in proportion to the foot in Negroes. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 419. To a ert one's self, to a ume and defend one's rights, claims, or authority; exert one's influence; sometimes, to thrust one's self forward unduly or obtrusively. The natural strength and firmne of his nature began to a ert itself. George Eliot , Mill on the Flo , iii. 2. While the struggle between the Emperor and the Pope absorbed the strength of both, it became po ible for the people to a ert themselves. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 498. = Syn. 2. A ert, Defend, Maintain, Vindicate. A ert supports a cause or claim aggre ively: its meaning is well brought out in the expre ion, a ert yourself; that is, make your influence felt. To defend is primarily to drive back a aults. To maintain is to hold up to the full amount, defending from diminution: as, to maintain the ancient customs, liberties, rights. To vindicate is to rescue, as from diminution, dishonor, or censure: as, to "vin dicate the ways of God to man," Pope, E ay on Man, i. 16. And as my va als, to their utmost might, A ist my person, and a ert my right. Dryden, Pal. and Arc., 1. 1,000. It is time now to draw homeward; and to think rather of defending myself, than a aulting others. Dryden, Pref. to Mock Astrologer. I will maintain IMG:content-1260.png:[blocks in formation] If it should at any time so happen that these rights should be invaded, there is no remedy but a reliance on the courts to protect and vindicate them. D. Webster , Convention to Revise the Const., 1821. 3. A ert, Affirm , Declare, Aver , A everate (see declare ), allege, protest, avow, lay down. (See protest .) A ert seems to expect doubt or contradiction of what one says. Affirm strengthens a statement by resting it upon one's reputation for knowledge or veracity: as, “she [Rhodal constantly affirmed that it was even so, Acts xii. 15; Declare public, clear, or emphatic, especially against contradiction. Aver is positive and peremptory. A ev erate is positive and solemn. We can a ert without a enting. J. H. Newman , Gram. of A ent, p. 11. It is a pure impertinence to affirm with oracular a urance what might perhaps be admi ible as a suggestion scholarship. Swinburne , Shakespeare, p. 23. offered with the due diffidence of modest and genuine Our Hebrew songs and harps, in Babylon That pleased so well our victors' ear, declare That rather Greece from us these arts derived. IMG:content-1261.png:[blocks in formation]