PROFFER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does proffer mean? 

• PROFFER (noun)
  The noun PROFFER has 1 sense:

1. a proposal offered for acceptance or rejection

  Familiarity information: PROFFER used as a noun is very rare.

• PROFFER (verb)
  The verb PROFFER has 1 sense:

1. present for acceptance or rejection

  Familiarity information: PROFFER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROFFER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A proposal offered for acceptance or rejection

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

proffer; proposition; suggestion

Context example:

it was a suggestion we couldn't refuse

Hypernyms ("proffer" is a kind of...):

proposal (something proposed (such as a plan or assumption))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proffer"):

breath; hint; intimation (an indirect suggestion)

ghost; touch; trace (a suggestion of some quality)

advance; approach; feeler; overture (a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others)

Derivation:

proffer (present for acceptance or rejection)

• PROFFER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they proffer    ... he / she / it proffers   
Past simple: proffered   
Past participle: proffered   
-ing form: proffering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Present for acceptance or rejection

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

offer; proffer

Context example:

She offered us all a cold drink

Hypernyms (to "proffer" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "proffer"):

give (proffer (a body part))

tender (make a tender of; in legal settlements)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

proffer (a proposal offered for acceptance or rejection)

 Context examples 

That is why I have sternly set my face against any proffered scholastic appointment.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He kept it in his hand and steadfastly proffered it.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Turning from the building in a downcast manner, Mr. Micawber accepted my proffered arm on one side, and the proffered arm of Traddles on the other, and walked away between us.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"I can't see it," he said finally, proffering the manuscript to her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Beauty Smith put his hands behind his back, refusing to touch the proffered money.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Mr. Micawber, supremely defiant of him and his extended finger, and making a great deal of his chest until he had slunk out at the door, then addressed himself to me, and proffered me the satisfaction of witnessing the re-establishment of mutual confidence between himself and Mrs. Micawber.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And in his large, easy way, desirous of not inflicting hurt, knowing that to repulse this proffer of herself was to inflict the most grievous hurt a woman could receive, he folded his arms around her and held her close.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Still White Fang suspected; and though the meat was proffered to him with short inviting thrusts of the hand, he refused to touch it.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

When he was again in a condition to be talked to, I thanked him for the proffered refreshment, which I declined, as I had just had dinner; and, observing that I would wait, since he was so good as to invite me, until his daughter and his son-in-law came back, I inquired how little Emily was?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As it was, he cowered down in a paralysis of fear, already half proffering the submission that his kind had proffered from the first time a wolf came in to sit by man's fire and be made warm.

(White Fang, by Jack London)