[pur.port] n [ME, fr. AF, content, tenor, fr. purporter to contain, fr. OF porporter to convey, fr. por- forward + porter to carry--more at purchase, port] (15c): meaning conveyed, professed, or implied: import; also: substance, gist
[2]pur.port vt (1528) 1: to have the often specious appearance of being, intending, or claiming (something implied or inferred) "a book that ~s to be an objective analysis"; also: claim "foreign novels which he ~s to have translated --Mary McCarthy"
2: intend, purpose