What does swear mean?
Definitions for swear
swɛərswear
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word swear.
Princeton's WordNet
curse, cuss, blaspheme, swear, imprecateverb
utter obscenities or profanities
"The drunken men were cursing loudly in the street"
affirm, verify, assert, avow, aver, swan, swearverb
to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
"Before God I swear I am innocent"
swearverb
promise solemnly; take an oath
swear, depose, deponeverb
make a deposition; declare under oath
trust, swear, rely, bankverb
have confidence or faith in
"We can trust in God"; "Rely on your friends"; "bank on your good education"; "I swear by my grandmother's recipes"
Webster Dictionary
Swearverb
to affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed; to make a promise, threat, or resolve on oath; also, to affirm solemnly by some sacred object, or one regarded as sacred, as the Bible, the Koran, etc
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Swearverb
to give evidence on oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement; he swore against the prisoner
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Swearverb
to make an appeal to God in an irreverant manner; to use the name of God or sacred things profanely; to call upon God in imprecation; to curse
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Swearverb
to utter or affirm with a solemn appeal to God for the truth of the declaration; to make (a promise, threat, or resolve) under oath
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Swearverb
to put to an oath; to cause to take an oath; to administer an oath to; -- ofetn followed by in or into; as, to swear witnesses; to swear a jury; to swear in an officer; he was sworn into office
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Swearverb
to declare or charge upon oath; as, he swore treason against his friend
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Swearverb
to appeal to by an oath
Etymology: [OE. swerien, AS. swerian; akin to D. zweren, OS. swerian, OHG. swerien, G. schwren, Icel. sverja, Sw. svrja, Dan. svaerge, Icel. & Sw. svara to answer, Dan. svare, Dan. & Sw. svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to E. swarm. 177. Cf. Answer.]
Freebase
Swear
"Swear" was a 1980s pop song by Tim Scott McConnell and released by Sire Records in 1983. The music video to promote the song was a campy/tongue-in-cheek music video of a hippy-based pagan/black mass set in a church. The stylized music video is seemingly a parody of late 1960s to early 1970s hippy horror movies. A bio [link below] from the Tim Scott website states with respect to the "Swear" song that: "This was my young and confused record...I wrote the songs over a couple of weeks on a little Casio keyboard...Sire heard it and offered me a deal...no use appologising for such a thing...my mistake... the good part of it was working with Richard Gottehrer ...really took me under his wing...shame we were working on the wrong kind of music.." "Swear" was covered by Sheena Easton for her 1984 album A Private Heaven. It reached #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the following year.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Swear
swār, v.i. to affirm, calling God to witness: to give evidence on oath: to utter the name of God or of sacred things profanely.—v.t. to utter, calling God to witness: to administer an oath to: to declare on oath:—pa.t. swōre; pa.p. sworn.—n. Swear′er.—Swear at, to aim profanity at: to be very incongruous with, esp. in colour; Swear by, to put complete confidence in; Swear in, to inaugurate by oath; Swear off, to renounce, promise to give up. [A.S. swerian; Dut. zweren, Ger. schwören.]
British National Corpus
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'swear' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2970
Verbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'swear' in Verbs Frequency: #661
Anagrams for swear »
Sawer
Sware
Wares
Wears
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of swear in Chaldean Numerology is: 8
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of swear in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3
Examples of swear in a Sentence
Therefore we will fight you all together, the sea you have hidden Sheikh Usama Bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood.
So Maxwell is right up my alley, whenever she walked into court, with the two U.S. marshals, she always made an entrance like she was walking down a runway, I swear to God.
Barbie is [ not my job, it is ] a lifestyle, when I am insulted on the Internet, I tell people, I dont drink or smoke or swear. I instill a healthy lifestyle to children. But despite her kind nature, Tuzovacomplains people are.
Wow wallahiil Adheeem [ I swear to God ] biggest joke of this week.
I'm lost...so lost...I'm not losing...because we are all lost! I swear now you are lost!
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for swear
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- حلف, شتم, أقسمArabic
- псувам, заклевам сеBulgarian
- jurarCatalan, Valencian
- klít, přísahatCzech
- rhegi, tyngu, melltithioWelsh
- sværgeDanish
- schimpfen, schwören, fluchenGerman
- βρίζω, ορκίζομαιGreek
- ĵuri, sakriEsperanto
- maldecir, blasfemar, renegar, jurar, [[echar]] [[terno]]sSpanish
- سوگند خوردن, دشنام دادنPersian
- vannoa, kiroillaFinnish
- banna, svørja, blótaFaroese
- gronder, jurerFrench
- xurarGalician
- נשבעHebrew
- esküszik, szitkozódik, káromkodikHungarian
- երդվել, երդվեցնել, հայհոյելArmenian
- sverja, blótaIcelandic
- giurare, insultare, bestemmiareItalian
- 契る, 怒鳴る, 誓う, ののしる, 悪態Japanese
- 맹세, 욕을Korean
- سوێن خواردن, جوێن دانKurdish
- iūroLatin
- пцуе, се колнеMacedonian
- naħlefMaltese
- sverte, sverge, banneNorwegian
- zweren, een eed afleggen, vloekenDutch
- sverja, banna, sverte, sverje, banne, svertaNorwegian Nynorsk
- jurarOccitan
- przeklinać, zaklinać, przysięgać, przyrzekać, kląćPolish
- praguejar, xingar, jurarPortuguese
- jura, înjuraRomanian
- вы́ругаться, присяга́ть, матери́ться, присягну́ть, руга́ться, кля́сться, покля́сться, брани́ться, скверносло́витьRussian
- giurài, zurare, giurareSardinian
- svära, svärjaSwedish
- yaminiSwahili
- சத்தியம்Tamil
- ఒట్టు పెట్టు, ప్రమాణం చేయుTelugu
- küfretmek, ant içmek, yemin etmek, sövmekTurkish
- лаятисяUkrainian
- thềVietnamese
- djurerWalloon
- 发誓Chinese
Get even more translations for swear »
Translation
Find a translation for the swear definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
"swear." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2022. Web. 22 May 2022. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/swear>.
Discuss these swear definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In