The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Profess \Pro*fess"\ (pr[-o]*f[e^]s"), v. i.
   1. To take a profession upon one's self by a public
      declaration; to confess. --Drayton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To declare friendship. [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Profess \Pro*fess"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Professed; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Professing.] [F. prof[`e]s, masc., professe, fem.,
   professed (monk or nun), L. professus, p. p. of profiteri to
   profess; pro before, forward + fateri to confess, own. See
   Confess.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To make open declaration of, as of one's knowledge,
      belief, action, etc.; to avow or acknowledge; to confess
      publicly; to own or admit freely. "Hear me profess
      sincerely." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            The best and wisest of them all professed
            To know this only, that he nothing knew. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To set up a claim to; to make presence to; hence, to put
      on or present an appearance of.
      [1913 Webster]

            I do profess to be no less than I seem. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To present to knowledge of, to proclaim one's self versed
      in; to make one's self a teacher or practitioner of, to
      set up as an authority respecting; to declare (one's self
      to be such); as, he professes surgery; to profess one's
      self a physician.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

profess
    v 1: practice as a profession, teach, or claim to be
         knowledgeable about; "She professes organic chemistry"
    2: confess one's faith in, or allegiance to; "The terrorists
       professed allegiance to their country"; "he professes to be a
       Communist"
    3: admit (to a wrongdoing); "She confessed that she had taken
       the money" [syn: concede, profess, confess]
    4: state freely; "The teacher professed that he was not generous
       when it came to giving good grades"
    5: receive into a religious order or congregation
    6: take vows, as in religious order; "she professed herself as a
       nun"
    7: state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later admitted
       his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the suicide
       bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine" [syn:
       profess, pretend]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

82 Moby Thesaurus words for "profess":
   act, act a part, affect, affirm, allege, announce, annunciate,
   argue, assert, assever, asseverate, assume, aver, avouch, avow,
   bluff, claim, confess, confirm, contend, counterfeit, cover up,
   declare, depose, dissemble, dissimulate, enunciate, express,
   express the belief, fake, feign, four-flush, gammon, have, hold,
   insist, issue a manifesto, lay down, let on, let on like, maintain,
   make a pretense, make as if, make believe, make like, manifesto,
   offer, play, play a part, play possum, playact, predicate, present,
   pretend, pretext, proclaim, proffer, pronounce, protest,
   protest too much, purport, put, put forward, put it, put on, say,
   set down, set forth, sham, simulate, speak, speak out, speak up,
   stand for, stand on, state, submit, swear, tender, utter, vow,
   warrant