Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Pretend \Pre*tend"\, v. i.
   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.

Pretend \Pre*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pretended}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Pretending}.] [OE. pretenden to lay claim to, F.
   pr['e]tendre, L. praetendere, praetentum, to stretch forward,
   pretend, simulate, assert; prae before + tendere to stretch.
   See {Tend}, v. t. ]
   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.
      [R.]

            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. [Obs.]

            Such as shall pretend Malicious practices against
            his state.                            --Shak.

   5. To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] ``His target always
      over her pretended.'' --Spenser.

Source : WordNet®

pretend
     n : the enactment of a pretense; "it was just pretend" [syn: {make-believe}]
     v 1: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he
          was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: {feign}, {sham},
           {affect}, {dissemble}]
     2: behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" [syn:
        {dissemble}, {act}]
     3: put forward a claim and assert right or possession of;
        "pretend the title of King"
     4: put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation; "I
        am guessing that the price of real estate will rise
        again"; "I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong" [syn:
         {guess}, {venture}, {hazard}]
     5: represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or
        act like; "She makes like an actress" [syn: {make}, {make
        believe}]
     6: state insincerely; "He professed innocence but later
        admitted his guilt"; "She pretended not to have known the
        suicide bomber"; "She pretends to be an expert on wine"
        [syn: {profess}]

pretend
     adj : imagined as in a play; "the make-believe world of theater";
           "play money"; "dangling their legs in the water to
           catch pretend fish" [syn: {make-believe}]