avouchment

avouch +‎ -ment

avouchment (countable and uncountable, plural avouchments)

1. The act of avouching.
   • 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes‎, page 5:

     While in the judgement of wise Men, by laying the foundation of his defence on the avouchment of that which is so manifestly untrue, he hath giv’n a worse soile to his own cause, then when his whole Forces were at any time overthrown.

2. A positive declaration.
   • 1959, Richard H. Rovere, Senator Joe McCarthy, Cleveland: Meridian, 1963, “What He Was and What He Did—1,” p. 31,

     Under oath, at the Army-McCarthy hearings, he denied ever having said this. His denials were as meaningless as his avouchments, and reputable journalists heard him.

• avouchment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913