avow

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To acknowledge or declare openly and unashamedly.
• transitive verb To state positively; declare.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun An avowal; a bold declaration.
• To own or acknowledge obligation or relation to, as a person: as, he avowed him for his son.
• To sanction; approve.
• To declare openly, often with a view to justify, maintain, or defend: as, to avow one's principles.
• Specifically, in law, to acknowledge and justify, as when the distrainer of goods defends in an action of replevin, and avows the taking, but insists that such taking was legal. See avowry, 1.
• 5. To admit or confess openly or frankly; acknowledge; own: as, to avow one's self a convert.
• Synonyms To affirm, assert, profess. Admit, Confess, etc. See acknowledge.
• In law, to justify or maintain an act done, specifically a distress for rent taken in one's own right.
• To bind with a vow.
• 2. To devote or dedicate by a vow; vow.
• To vow to do or keep; promise; undertake.
• To bind one's self by a vow; make a vow; vow.
• noun A vow; a promise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To declare openly, as something believed to be right; to own or acknowledge frankly.
• transitive verb (Law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See Avowry.
• noun Archaic A vow or determination.
• verb obsolete To bind, or to devote, by a vow.
• noun obsolete Avowal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To declare openly and boldly, as something believed to be right; to own, acknowledge or confess frankly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
• verb admit openly and bluntly; make no bones about