aver

verb

1. (ambitransitive)To assert the truth of (something); to affirm (something) with confidence; to declare (something) in a positive manner.

   “A rare thing to ſee a yong man or woman, that liues idlely, and fares well, of what condition ſoeuer, not to bee in loue. Vbicumqꝫ ſecuritas, ibi libido dominatur, luſt & ſecurity domineere together, as Sᵗ Hierome auerreth.”

   “Now as to the Scriptures being the Word of God, and evidently known to be ſo, or evidencing themſelves to be ſo, and that of right, and properly they are to be ſo called; all which thou J. O. very abſolutely averreſt, […]”

   “Chiron, the four-legg'd Bard, had both / A Beard and Tail of his own growth; / And yet by Authors 'tis averr'd, / He made use onely of his Beard.”

   “[T]he partial Infidel […] averreth the Sleep or Inſenſibility of the Soul both in good and bad perſons, from the time of their Deceaſe hence until their Reſurrection; […]”

   “The Devil, I safely can aver, / Has neither hoof, nor tail, nor sting; / Nor is he, as some sages swear, / A spirit, neither here nor there, / In nothing—yet in everything.”

2. (ambitransitive)To justify or prove (an allegation or plea that one has made).
3. (obsolete, transitive)To avouch, prove, or verify the existence or happening of (something), or to offer to do so.

   “[…] I return'd with ſimular proofe enough, / To make the Noble Leonatus mad, / By wounding his beleefe in her Renowne, / With tokens thus, and thus: auerring notes / Of Chamber-hanging, Pictures, this her Bracelet / (Oh cunning how I got) nay ſome markes / Of ſecret on her perſon, that he could not / But thinke her bond of Chaſtity quite crack'd, / I hauing tane the forfeyt.”

   “Upon a time the Body summon'd all the Members to meet in the Guild for the common good (as Aesops Chronicles averre many stranger Accidents) the head by right takes the first seat, and next to it a huge and monstrous Wen little lesse than the Head it selfe, growing to it by a narrower excrescency.”

   “[A]lthough thou averrest this, and averrest it truly, we are nevertheless constrained to plead guilty to the possession of so much of this sensibility [a refusal to hear details] (call it "sickly" if thou wilt) as that they case once proved, our feeling of duty refuses to sustain us any longer against that combined and overwhelming influence of shattered nerves and a sickened heart.”

noun

1. (British, archaic, dialectal)A beast of burden; chiefly a workhorse, but also a working ox or other animal.
2. (Northern-England, Scotland, archaic, dialectal)An old, useless horse; a nag.

   “[…] Gilbert has but two half-starved cowardly peasants to follow him, and but an auld jaded aver to ride upon, fitter for the plough than for manly service; […]”