TESTIFY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Testify

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/tˈɛstəfˌaɪ/ Listen

verb

Testify v. t.

To bear witness to; to support the truth of by testimony; to affirm or declare solemny. "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness."

(Law) To affirm or declare under oath or affirmation before a tribunal, in order to prove some fact.

Testify v. i. (past & past part. testified; pres. part. testifying)

To make a solemn declaration, verbal or written, to establish some fact; to give testimony for the purpose of communicating to others a knowledge of something not known to them. "Jesus... needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man."

(Law) To make a solemn declaration under oath or affirmation, for the purpose of establishing, or making proof of, some fact to a court; to give testimony in a cause depending before a tribunal. "One witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die."

To declare a charge; to protest; to give information; to bear witness; with against. "O Israel,... I will testify against thee." "I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals."

adverb

Testify adv. In a testy manner; fretfully; peevishly; with petulance.

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Etymology of 'Testify'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Testify" Quotes from Famous Books

... what he had written), before leaving England for a visit to his native country, invited all with whom he had been engaged in controversy to see him, that, 'all doctrinal differences apart, he might testify his sincere regret for having given them ...

— The English Church in the Eighteenth Century • Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton

... neither joke nor satire. It is sober earnest, as many observant readers will readily testify. The loss is not only to the individual, it is to society at large, and to the whole world. No one will deny the fact; but to how many will it occur that such anomalies cannot be the outcome of natural development and progress, but that they must be directly or indirectly attributable ...

— The Curse of Education • Harold E. Gorst

... was the reply, in the tone of coarse resentment whereby the scheming vulgar are wont to testify to their dishonesty. ...

— The Nether World • George Gissing

... opened eight days in advance. The agents had realized big profits. The first night always creates a sensation in Paris. All the social celebrities were in the audience: and, what is less usual, many "intellectuals." They wished to testify by their presence their friendship for Francois Darbois, and to protest against certain journalists, who had not hesitated to say in print that such a furore about an actress (poor Esperance) was prejudicial to the dignity ...

— The Idol of Paris • Sarah Bernhardt

... aware, the present state of the law is such that you are held justifiable in your act of self-defence; but should you fire upon that boat now it will be murder, and I swear to you that if you do I will testify against you for the deed, if I live so long. Man, have you no regard for yourself? Do you suppose that the captain of yonder brig will be content to take the beating off of his boats as a final settlement of this night's ...

— The Pirate Slaver - A Story of the West African Coast • Harry Collingwood

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