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to -ssert without proof.
to declare with positiveness; affirm; -ssert:
to allege a fact.
to declare before a court or elsewhere, as if under oath.
to plead in support of; offer as a reason or excuse.
archaic. to cite or quote in confirmation.
contemporary examples

what the film does allege is that obi may have purchased m-ss quant-ties of aspirin to ship to victims at goma.
‘mission congo’ alleges pat robertson exploited post-genocide rwandans for diamonds marlow stern september 6, 2013

q: is she, as her right-wing critics like to allege, utterly humorless?
the hidden messages in hillary’s speech heather hurlburt july 14, 2009

so she made changes that have transformed the times online; is that what her critics mean when they allege she was disruptive?
the hypocrisy behind the new york times’s abrupt decapitation of jill abramson robert shrum may 17, 2014

they also allege their children are not in fact siblings, despite having been told they were.
judge: rehoming kids is trafficking tina traster december 29, 2014

tihen did allege that davis had punched white in the nose at the start of the struggle.
from ferguson cop embroiled in a brutality suit to city councilwoman michael daly august 19, 2014

historical examples

witnesses were prohibited to testify as to common rumor unless they could allege reasons and details.
a history of the inquisition of spain; vol. 2, henry charles lea

but, if i do not ask, they may allege, that my not going is owing to myself.
clarissa, volume 1 (of 9) samuel richardson

if i am a forger or a friend of forgers, as you allege me to be, then i am unworthy to have served in the uniform of france.
the doctor of pimlico william le queux

i was deceived: whatever i might allege, the prohibition remained.
the memoirs of louis xiv., his court and the regency, complete duc de saint-simon

after such terrible accusations, it is time to hear what his patron casaubon can allege in his defence.
discourses on satire and on epic poetry john dryden

verb (transitive; may take a clause as object)
to declare in or as if in a court of law; state without or before proof: he alleged malpractice
to put forward (an argument or plea) for or against an accusation, claim, etc
(archaic) to cite or quote, as to confirm
v.

c.1300. it has the form of one french verb and the meaning of another. the form is anglo-french aleger, old french eslegier “to clear at law,” from latin ex- “out of” (see ex-) and litigare “bring suit” (see litigate); however eslegier meant “acquit, clear of charges in a lawsuit.” it somehow acquired the meaning of french alléguer, from latin allegare “send for, bring forth, name, produce in evidence,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + legare “to depute, send” (see legate). related: alleged; alleging.