proffer
An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender.
Noun
- An offer made; something proposed for acceptance by another; a tender.
- [T]heir ovvn eies vvilbe perhaps more curious iudges, out of heareſay they may have builded many conceites, vvhich I can not perchaunce vvil not performe, then vvil vndeſerued repentance be a greater ſhame and iniurie...
- Her lips, man, her lips! and that's a proffer I would not make to every one who crosses my threshold. But, by good St Valentine, (whose holiday will dawn to-morrow,) I am so glad to see thee in the bonny city of Perth...
- [H]ow, if you tell him this, will you make him understand that I say so as an act of justice, and not in the least as a proffer of affection? - 1886, George Bernard Shaw, chapter XIII, in Cashel Byron’s Profession. […],...
Synonyms: proposition
- An attempt, an essay.
- [A]fter ſome reſiſtance with ſhotte and arrowes, and profer of onſet made by their horſemen, they were put to flight, [...] - 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “Queene Marie”, in The Laste Volume of the Chronicles of England,...
- It is a Thing ſtrange in Nature, when it is attentiuely conſidered, How Children and ſome Birds, learne to imitate Speech. [...] It is true, that it is done with time, and by little and little, and with many Eſſayes and...
Origin
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...
Forms
Derived
Verb
- To offer for acceptance; to propose to give; to make a tender of.
- to proffer friendship, a gift, or services
- Cæſar in this hath offered like himſelfe, / He proffereth to preſerue your tovvne vntouch'd: / Your goods, your vviues, your liues, your liberties: […] - 1607 February 12 (first performance; Gregorian calendar),...
- Thou proffers me of thy wages to have: / I thee defy, power, and all the leave, / That helps thee here of thy ſtout nation. - 1665, [“Blind Harry”], chapter I, in The Life and Acts of the Most Famous and Valiant...
- To attempt or essay of one's own accord; to undertake or propose to undertake.
- [N]one among the choice and prime / Of thoſe Heav'n-warring Champions could be found / So hardie as to proffer or accept / Alone the dreadful voyage; [...] - 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London:...