Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pretend

Pretend , transitive verb

[Old English pretenden to lay claim to, French prétendre, Latin praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward, pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch. See Tend, transitive verb ]

1.
To lay a claim to; to allege a title to; to claim.
Chiefs shall be grudged the part which they pretend. — Dryden
2.
To hold before, or put forward, as a cloak or disguise for something else; to exhibit as a veil for something hidden. [Rare]
Lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them. — Milton
3.
To hold out, or represent, falsely; to put forward, or offer, as true or real (something untrue or unreal); to show hypocritically, or for the purpose of deceiving; to simulate; to feign; as, to pretend friendship.
This let him know, Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend Surprisal. — Milton
4.
To intend; to design; to plot; to attempt. [Obsolete]
Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his state. — Shakespeare
5.
To hold before one; to extend. [Obsolete]
His target always over her pretended. — Spenser

Pretend , intransitive verb

1.
To put in, or make, a claim, truly or falsely; to allege a title; to lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to.
Countries that pretend to freedom. — Swift
For to what fine he would anon pretend, That know I well. — Chaucer
2.
To hold out the appearance of being, possessing, or performing; to profess; to make believe; to feign; to sham; as, to pretend to be asleep.
[He] pretended to drink the waters. — Macaulay