different between proffer vs vouchsafe

English

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English profre (“act of offering or presenting a gift; offer of something; challenge; sacrifice; act of petitioning or requesting; petition, request; proposal, suggestion; idea, thought; attempt, effort; appearance; (law) payment to the Exchequer by a sheriff or other officer of estimated revenue due to the monarch”) [and other forms], and then:

• partly from Late Latin profrum, proferum (“payment to the Exchequer of estimated revenue due to the monarch (also puruoffrus), offer to convict a criminal”), and from its likely etymon Anglo-Norman profre, proffre, porofre (“payment to the Exchequer of estimated revenue due to the monarch; offer, proposal”), and
• partly from the verb.

The verb is derived from Late Middle English prouffer, prouffre, Middle English profren, profer, proffere (“to offer, propose; to deliver, hand over, present; to take up; to volunteer; to dedicate; to attempt, try; to risk; to challenge; to provide; to ask, invite; to proceed, start; to grant; to argue”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman profrer, proferer, profferer, proffrir, propherer, proufrir, and Old French proferir, proffrir, profrir (“to offer, propose; to present; to volunteer”), variants of Anglo-Norman puroffrir and Middle French poroffrir, paroffrir, Old French poroffrir, paroffrir, porofrir, from por-, pur- (prefix meaning ‘to go through’ or having an intensifying effect) + offrir, ofrir (“to offer”) (modern French offrir (“to offer; to give as a gift; to open oneself up to (someone)”)). Offrir is derived from Vulgar Latin *offer?re, from Latin offerre, present active infinitive of offer? (“to offer, present; to exhibit, show; to expose; to cause, inflict; to consecrate, dedicate; to sacrifice”) (from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + fer? (“to bear, carry; to support; to endure; to bring forth; to put in motion; to move forward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *b?er- (“to bear, carry”))).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??f?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p??f?/
• Rhymes: -?f?(r)
• Hyphenation: prof?fer

Noun

proffer (plural proffers)

1. An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender.

   Synonym: proposition
2. (obsolete) An attempt, an essay.

Alternative forms

• profre, proffre (obsolete)

Translations

Verb

proffer (third-person singular simple present proffers, present participle proffering, simple past and past participle proffered)

1. (transitive, reflexive) To offer for acceptance; to propose to give; to make a tender of.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To attempt or essay of one's own accord; to undertake or propose to undertake.

Conjugation

Alternative forms

• profre, proffre (obsolete)

Derived terms

• profferable (rare)
• profferer

Related terms

• prolate

Translations

See also

• profer

References

Further reading

• proffer in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• proffer in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• proffer at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• proffre

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

proffer m

1. indefinite plural of proff

English

Etymology

vouch +? safe, written as two words in Middle English and early Modern English.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?va?t??se?f/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [?v??t??se?f]
• Rhymes: -e?f
• Hyphenation: vouch?safe

Verb

vouchsafe (third-person singular simple present vouchsafes, present participle vouchsafing, simple past and past participle vouchsafed)

1. To graciously give, to condescendingly grant a right, benefit, outcome, etc.; to deign to acknowledge.
2. To receive or accept in condescension.
   • 1913 Eleanor Porter: Pollyanna: Chapter 8:

     Nancy's lips parted abruptly, as if there were angry words all ready to come; but her eyes, resting on Pollyanna's jubilantly trustful face, saw something that prevented the words being spoken.
     "Humph!" she vouchsafed. Then, showing her old-time interest, she went on: "But, say, it is queer, his speakin' to you, honestly, Miss Pollyanna. He don't speak ter no one; and he lives all alone in a great big lovely house all full of jest grand things, they say. Some says he's crazy, and some jest cross; and some says he's got a skeleton in his closet."

3. To disclose or divulge.

   She vouchsafed to me that she regretted ever marrying him.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vouchsafe.

Synonyms

• deign

Related terms

• vouchsafement
• vouchsafing

Translations