profess

Short definition from Wiktionary

Verb

1. 1
   To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order.
2. 2
   To declare oneself (to be something).
3. 3
   To declare; to assert, affirm.
4. 4
   To make a claim (to be something); to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity.
5. 5
   To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.).
6. 6
   To work as a professor of; to teach.
7. 7
   To claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter).