What does swear mean?
Definitions for swear
swɛərswear
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage 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"
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
To Swearverb
Moses took the bones of Joseph; for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel. Ex. xiii. 19.
Swom ashore, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I’ll be sworn. William Shakespeare, Tempest.
Let me swear you all to secrecy;
And, to conceal my shame, conceal my life. Dryden.Now by Apollo, king, thou swear’st thy gods in vain.
———— O vassal! miscreant! William Shakespeare.To SWEARverb
preter. swore or sware; part. pass. sworn.
Etymology: swaran, Gothick; swerian , Saxon; sweeren, Dutch.
If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. Num.
Thee, thee an hundred languages shall claim,
And savage Indians swear by Anna’s name. Thomas Tickell.We shall have old swearing
That they did give the rings away to men;
But we’ll outface them, and outswear them too. William Shakespeare.I gave my love a ring, and made him swear
Never to part with it; and here he stands,
I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it,
Nor pluck it from his finger. William Shakespeare.I would have kept my word;
But, when I swear, it is irrevocable. William Shakespeare, Henry VI.Jacob said, swear to me; and he sware unto him. Gen.
Bacchus taken at Rhodes by Demetrius Poliorcetes, which he so esteemed, that, as Plutarch reports, he sware he had rather lose all his father’s images than that table. Henry Peacham.
At what ease
Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt
To swear against you? William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.Because of swearing the land mourneth. Jer. xxiii. 10.
Obey thy parents, keep thy word justly;
Swear not. William Shakespeare, King Lear.None so nearly disposed to scoffing at religion as those who have accustomed themselves to swear on trifling occasions. John Tillotson.
ChatGPT
swear
Swear, as a verb, generally refers to making a formal declaration or making a solemn promise, often with the inclusion of an oath or using strong or profane language to assert truth or express strong emotion. It can also involve invoking a deity or sacred object as a way to emphasize the seriousness or truthfulness of a statement. As a noun, "swear" can refer to an oath, a specific word or phrase often considered vulgar or offensive, or the act of using such language.
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
Swearverb
to give evidence on oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement; he swore against the prisoner
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
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
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
Swearverb
to declare or charge upon oath; as, he swore treason against his friend
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.]
Wikidata
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
seraw
resaw
warse
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
Wow wallahiil Adheeem [ I swear to God ] biggest joke of this week.
I swear tiktok is like the next Youtube.
I turn down so much money. I feel like such a stupid person, i'll just take a vote. How about if I take all of this money -- and I promise you, I swear to you -- that I won't do anything for these people. How about that?
My quarrel isn’t with people who think diversity, equity and inclusion are good things, my argument and the argument of the NAS is turning them into dogma and then using them to vet faculty members, graduate students, undergraduate students – creating aversive environment in which you feel you have to swear fealty to a particular creed. I think that’s wrong.
You're a good man, I swear. You did what you are supposed to do, and I sure do appreciate it, and I know my son appreciates it.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
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
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