[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

purport \pur"port\, n. of. purport; pur, pour, for l. pro +
   porter to bear, carry. see port demeanor.
   1913 webster
   1. design or tendency; meaning; import; tenor.
      1913 webster

            the whole scope and purport of that dialogue.
            norris.
            with a look so piteous in purport
            as if he had been loosed out of hell. -- shak.
      1913 webster

   2. disguise; covering. obs.
      1913 webster

            for she her sex under that strange purport
            did use to hide.                      --spenser.
      1913 webster
see also:
port 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

purport \pur"port\, v. t. imp.  p. p. purported; p. pr. 
   vb. n. purporting. of. purporter, pourporter. see
   purport, n.
   to intend to show; to intend; to mean; to signify; to import;
   -- often with an object clause or infinitive.
   1913 webster

         they in most grave and solemn wise unfolded
         matter which little purported.           --rowe.
   1913 webster
see also:
purported purporting purport 

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

purport
     n 1: the intended meaning of a communication syn: intent, spirit
     2: general meaning or tenor; "caught the drift of the
        conversation" syn: drift
     v 1: have the often specious appearance of being, intending, or
          claiming; "the letter purports to express people's
          opinion"
     2: propose or intend; "i aim to arrive at noon" syn: aim, purpose,
         propose
see also:
intent spirit drift aim purpose propose 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

108 moby thesaurus words for "purport":
   academic, acceptation, affective meaning, aim, aim at, allege,
   aspire after, aspire to, avow, be after, bearing, burden, claim,
   coloring, connotation, consequence, core, denotation, design,
   desire, destine, determine, drift, drive at, effect, essence,
   extension, force, gist, go for, grammatical meaning,
   harbor a design, have every intention, idea, impact, implication,
   import, intend, intendment, intension, lexical meaning,
   literal meaning, matter, mean, meaning, meat, message, ostensible,
   overtone, pertinence, pith, plan, point, postulated,
   practical consequence, presupposed, pretend, pretended, pretext,
   profess, professed, project, propose, protest too much, purported,
   purpose, range of meaning, real meaning, reference, referent,
   relation, relevance, reputed, resolve, rumored, scope,
   semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, significance,
   significancy, signification, significatum, signifie, so-called,
   span of meaning, speculative, spirit, structural meaning,
   substance, sum, sum and substance, supposed, suppositional,
   suppositive, suspected, symbolic meaning, tenor, theoretical,
   think, thrust, totality of associations, transferred meaning,
   unadorned meaning, understanding, undertone, upshot, value

[5] : Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

purport, pleading. this word means the substance of a writing, as it appears 
on the face of it, to the eye that reads it; it differs from tenor. q.v., 
2 russ. on cr. 365; 1 chit. cr. law, 235; 1 east, r. 179, and the cases in 
the notes. 

Purport >> P Words
Purport, definition of term: Purport
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