1. (v. t.) To make acknowledgment or avowal in a matter pertaining to one's self; to acknowledge, own, or admit, as a crime, a fault, a debt.

2. (v. t.) To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.

3. (v. t.) To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment.

4. (v. t.) To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.

5. (v. t.) To hear or receive such confession; -- said of a priest.

6. (v. t.) To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest.

7. (v. i.) To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience.

8. (v. i.) To acknowledge; to admit; to concede.