Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON-FES'SION, n.

1. The acknowledgment of a crime, fault, or something to one's disadvantage; open declaration of guilt, failure, debt, accusation, &c. With the mouth confession is made to salvation. – Rom. x.
2. Avowal; the act of acknowledging; profession. Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. – 1 Tim. vi.
3. The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest; the disburdening of the conscience privately to a confessor; sometimes called auricular confession.
4. A formulary in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission into a church.
5. The acknowledgment of a debt by a debtor before a justice of the peace, &c., on which judgment is entered and execution issued.