swear n.
an oath.
![]() | Ordinary IV iv: Gull’d by my swear, by my swear gull’d. | |
![]() | ‘Lay your Reason’ in Political Ballads in | (1860) II 31: You must either take the swear, or starve, or lose your station.|
![]() | Letters from the Dead to the Living in Works (1760) IV 79: [He has] faced about to the Right, and taken the Swear. | |
![]() | St James’s Gazette 4 June n.p.: It is a dreadful thing to say, but I felt that if I didn’t utter a big swear at that moment something would happen [F&H]. | |
![]() | Sun. Times (Perth) 21 Oct. 4/8: Excuse me while I say a swear. | |
![]() | Backblock Ballads 59: To use the fancy swears I hear / Comes natural as sinkin’ beer. | ‘Sore Throat’ in