swear

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛɚ/

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛə/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

From Middle English sweren, swerien, from Old English swerian (“to swear, take an oath of office”), from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną (“to speak, swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to speak, talk”). Cognate with West Frisian swarre (“to swear”), Saterland Frisian swera (“to swear”), Dutch zweren (“to swear, vow”), Low German swören (“to swear”), sweren, German schwören (“to swear”), Danish sværge, Swedish svära (“to swear”), Icelandic sverja (“to swear”). Also cognate to Albanian var (“to hang, consider, to depend from”) through Proto-Indo-European.

swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past swore or (archaic) sware, past participle sworn)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To take an oath.
   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794, page 01:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To use offensive language.

• In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

• See also Thesaurus:swearword
• See also Thesaurus:swear

From the above verb, or from Middle English sware, from Old English swaru, from Proto-Germanic *swarō.

swear (plural swears)

1. A swear word.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá

     You might think it funny to hear this Kanaka girl come out with a big swear. No such thing. There was no swearing in her — no, nor anger; she was beyond anger, and meant the word simple and serious.

From Middle English swere, swer, swar, from Old English swǣr, swār (“heavy, heavy as a burden, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-Germanic *swēraz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swēr- (“heavy”). Cognate with West Frisian swier (“heavy”), Dutch zwaar (“heavy, hard, difficult”), German schwer (“heavy, hard, difficult”), Swedish svår (“heavy, hard, severe”), Latin sērius (“earnest, grave, solemn, serious”) and Albanian varrë (“wound, plague”).

• sweer, sweir, swere

swear (comparative swearer or more swear, superlative swearest or most swear)

1. (Britain dialectal) Heavy.
2. (Britain dialectal) Top-heavy; too high.
3. (Britain dialectal) Dull; heavy; lazy; slow; reluctant; unwilling.
4. (Britain dialectal) Niggardly.
5. (Britain dialectal) A lazy time; a short rest during working hours (especially field labour); a siesta.

swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past and past participle sweared)

1. (Britain dialectal) To be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.

• resaw, sawer, sware, wares, wears