Avouching

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Stating or confirming something as true or valid with confidence
2. Declaring or affirming the truthfulness of a statement or claim reliably
3. Expressing a firm assurance about the accuracy or validity of information

Etymology: "Avouching" is the present participle of "avouch," a verb that has been in English since the late Middle Ages. Its root is the Latin "advocare," meaning "to call to one's aid" or "to summon," which is also the source of "advocate." The verb came into English by way of Old French "avouchier," and the Latin root split into several English words that took different paths: "advocate," "advoke," "avow," and "avouch" are all doublets, descended from the same Latin word but arriving at different times and in different forms. The shared sense of calling someone as a witness or defender helps explain "avouch." In its older uses, to avouch something was to vouch for it, to guarantee that a claim was true and to stand behind it. The notion of calling on someone to back you up survives in the verb's meaning of firmly asserting that information is accurate or valid, as if summoning one's own authority to support a statement.

Synonyms: asserting, declaring, claiming, affirming, testifying