espouse

From Middle English espousen, borrowed from Old French espouser, from Latin spōnsāre, present active infinitive of spōnsō (frequentative of spondeō), from Proto-Indo-European *spend-.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈspaʊz/
• Rhymes: -aʊz, -aʊs

espouse (third-person singular simple present espouses, present participle espousing, simple past and past participle espoused)

1. (transitive) To become/get married to.
2. (transitive) To accept, support, or take on as one’s own (an idea or a cause).
   • 1998, William Croft, Event Structure in Argument Linking, in: Miriam Butt and Wilhelm Geuder, eds., “The Projection of Arguments”, p. 37

     Although Dowty’s proposal is attractive from the point of view of the alternative argument linking theory that I am espousing, since it eschews the use of thematic roles and thematic role hierarchies, […], but it still has some drawbacks.

   • 2011, Donald J. van Vliet, “Letter: Republicans espouse ideology over national welfare”, in The Eagle-Tribune‎, retrieved 2013-12-18:

     Those that espoused this ideology […]

• espousal
• sponsor
• spouse

• poseuse