▪ I. oath, n.
(əʊθ)
Pl. oaths (əʊðz). Forms: 1–4 áð, áþ, (1 háð), 2–4 oð, oþ, 3 æð, oað, othþ, (hoþ), 4–5 ooþ, 4–6 ooth, (5 -e), 4–7 oth, -e, (6 oith, oethe), 7– oath, (dial. 5 wothe, woothe); also β. north. and Sc. 4 ath, aithe, aythe, 4–5 athe, ayth, (5 haith, 6 eith, 7 eath), 5–9 aith.
[Com. Teut.: OE. áþ str. masc., = OFris. êth, êd, OS. êð (MDu. eet, eed-, Du. eed, MLG. LG. êd), OHG. eid (MHG. eit, eid-, Ger. eid), ON. eiðr (Sw. ed, Da. eed), Goth. aiþs:—OTeut. *aiþo-z:—pre-Teut. *óitos, cf. OIr. oeth.]
1. a. A solemn or formal appeal to God (or to a deity or something held in reverence or regard), in witness of the truth of a statement, or the binding character of a promise or undertaking; an act of swearing; a statement or promise corroborated by such an appeal, or the form of words in which such a statement or promise is made.
to take (an) oath: to utter, or bind oneself by, an oath; to swear: also to make (an) oath, and in earlier use to swear an oath. † to take an oath of (a person): to cause (him) to swear; to administer, or be witness to, an oath (obs.). on oath or upon oath: under the obligation of an oath; as having made an oath. under oath, on or upon oath.
| Beowulf 1107 (Z.) Að wæs ᵹeæfned. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 7 Ða behet he mid aðe, hyre to syllenne swa hwæt swa heo hyne bæde. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1101 Þis mid aðe ᵹefestnodan. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6108 Nou adde heyemen of þe lond..deop oþ ysuore, Wiþ him to holde treweliche, & breke þo hor oþ. a 1300 Cursor M. 1618 Be his right hand he suar his ath. c 1300 Seyn Julian 25 Ihote icham alle cristenemen, to deðe do vp myn oþe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. st. 292 W{supt} owte ony wothe. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xi. 344 Bi ooth and so bi avisement. c 1450 Merlin 140 Whan the two kynges hadde take the oth of these two. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 96 He..bade hem with grete instaunce and wothys that the nexte nyghte..the lampys afore seyd schuld be lyghtynde. 1511 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 3 John Husscher wyll take a othe a pon a boke. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 92 Prelates to whome they haue bounde themselfe by othe, promesse or vowe. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xcv. 310 Themperour hath so made his oth and promyse & hath sworne by his crowne imperyall. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 14 Speake truly on thy knighthood, and thine oath. ― Lucr. Argt., She, first taking an oath of them for her revenge, revealed the actor. 1599 ― Hen. V, v. ii. 399 My Lord of Burgundy wee'le take your Oath..for suretie of our Leagues. 1601 ― All's Well v. iii. 185 Aske him vpon his oath, if hee do's thinke [etc.]. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 179 Which swearing, or oath, is a form of speech, added to a promise; by which he that promiseth, signifieth, that unless he perform, he renounceth the mercy of his God, or calleth to him for vengeance on himself. 1712 [see under prep. 14 b]. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 253 The administring of an oath to witnesses by justices of the peace. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ii. 374 He declined examination upon oath. 1848 Dickens Dombey iv, I could take my oath he said son. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 653 The new oaths were sent down to the Commons. 1851 R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) viii. 83 He was then under oath not to drink for six months. 1861 G. Meredith Evan Harrington xliii. (1886) 481 Rose..made oath to her soul she would rescue him. |
| β a 1300 Cursor M. 27666 And gain sum þai suare þair ath [v.r. mak ane athe] For to do him melle and lath. c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 10 Here es forbodene athe with-owttene cheson. 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 540 Sum of the men of the Cuntre Com till his pess and maid him ath. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 61 The first conditioun requirit to ane lauchful eith is verite or truth. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 13 To make ane aith before ane Judge. 1785 Burns Death & Dr. Hornbook 147 I'm free to tak my aith. |
b. Loosely applied to an asseveration in the form of an oath, but not involving a reference to God or anything sacred.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 192–3. 1808 Scott Marm. v. xi, She..laughed, and blushed, and oft did say Her pretty oath, by Yea and Nay, She could not, would not, durst not play! |
c. my (colonial, etc.) oath, a mild expletive or exclamation: yes! of course! upon my word!
Austral. and
N.Z. slang.| 1859 H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn II. vi. 94 ‘You're not fit company for any man except the hangman,’ said Tom,..‘Oh my —— (colonial oath!)’ said the other; ‘oh my —— cabbage tree!’ 1895 J. Kirby Old Times in Bush x. 143 The snake..made a hoop of hisself, and then, my oath, he did go. 1896 H. Lawson While Billy Boils 203 (title) His colonial oath. Ibid., ‘My oath!’ he replied... ‘My blooming oath!’ 1899 Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Feb. (Red Page), I don't mean the variety whose conversation consists of expectoration and ‘Yer’ or ‘My — oath’. 1916 J. B. Cooper Coo-oo-ee i. 11 Ain't that like a woman with a man? My oath it is! I know 'em. 1925 H. H. Cook Far Flung 12 ‘Perhaps ye'll square up?’..‘My oath!’ cried the debtor. 1928 ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xv. 255 ‘My — Colonial oath!’ echoed Erroll. 1941 Coast to Coast 1941 45 ‘Who said I was going to give you a quid anyway?’ ‘You did.’ ‘My oath I didn't.’ 1946 E. G. Webber Johnny Enzed in Italy 36 ‘All this us der merry laugh gives, no?’ I said. ‘My oath!’ said the Bloke. ‘My colonial oath!’ 1952 M. Tripp Faith is Windsock i. 7 ‘Pay twenties and twenty-ones.’ ‘My oath!’ Bergen threw his cards (a king and a six) face down on the table. 1969 Melbourne Truth 12 July 3/4 Whitton, with his ear close to the receiver, listened to the reply. It was: ‘My bloody oath I will.’ 1974 N. Marsh Black as he's Painted iii. 73 ‘And that's when your headache really sets in, is it, Fred?’ ‘My oath! Well, take a look at it.’ 1977 J. Wainwright Do Nothin' xi. 185 My oath—those couple of hours were some session. |
2. Such an appeal made lightly in ordinary speech in corroboration of a statement, etc.; a careless use of the name of God or Christ, or of something sacred, in asseveration or imprecation, or a formula of words involving this (often with suppression or perversion of the sacred name, and becoming at length practically meaningless, or a mere expression of anger, surprise, or other strong feeling): an act of profane swearing; a curse.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 11 Ne haue þu þines drihtenes nome in nane aða ne in nane idel speche. a 1225 Ancr. R. 198 Blasphemie..þet swereð greate oðes, oðer bitterliche kurseð, oðer mis-seið bi God, oðer bi his haluwen. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 177 Þer weoren oþes an hep, hose þat hit herde. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 629 Þe former of euery creature Dismembred y with oþes grete, and rente Lyme for lyme. 1550 Crowley Epigr. 697 The wycked othes, and the times myspent. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sinnes ii. (Arb.) 21 Oathes are Crutches, vpon whych Lyes..go, and neede no other pasport... Oathes are wounds that a man stabs into himselfe. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 511 Every street of the city rings with the horrible oaths of their drivers. 1837 Lytton E. Maltrav. (1851) 8 He closed the window with an oath. 1898 D. C. Murray Tales 209 Oaths are the flash-notes of speech. |
3. With qualifying words, as
Bible oath,
bodily oath,
book oath,
corporal oath,
oath of abjuration,
of allegiance,
of office,
of supremacy, etc.
great oath: an oath of special solemnity, or (in sense 2) of special emphasis or profanity; the form of oath held by the swearer, or considered at the time, most sacred.
| a 1225 [see 2]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 75 Þerfor William þe kyng..suore a grete othe, þat he suld neuer spare Noiþer lefe no lothe northeren, what so þei ware. 13.. K. Alis. 4575 (Bodl. MS.) Now he..haþ yswore his grete ooþ Þat he ne shal twies seen þe sonne Er he hym haue þe forte ywonne. 1389 in Sir W. Fraser Wemyss of W. (1888) II. 24 Til there thyngys..lelily and fermly to be fulfyllyt..bath the partys fornemmyt, the haly wangelis twechyt, the gret ath bodylyke has sworn. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xx. 1961 He swore the great aith bodely. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 210/2 Grete oothe, jusjurandum. 1530 Palsgr. 495 He hath constrayned me..by a boke othe (par mon serment sur ung liure). c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1899) I. 41 The chanceleir suore be his great aith and hailie sacrament thair was..no wther..that he faworit sa weill. 1589 Cooper Admonit. 32 Thomas Orwin..himselfe hath vpon his booke oath denied, that he euer printed [the books]. 1606 Proc. agst. late Traitors 6 Should receive several corporall othes upon the holy Evangelists. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 12 Twelue loyall men..sall be chosen; quha sall sweare the great eath in presence of the parties, that they sall declare quhilk of them hes best richt. 1771 E. Long Trial of Dog ‘Porter’ in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 204 I'm ready to take my bible oath on't. 1777 G. Clinton in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 415 To attend at Kingston, and take the oath of office in consequence of my late appointment. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xii, I dhruv him to Squire Egan's, I'll take my book oath. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 504 A law..imposed severe penalties on every person who refused to take the oath of supremacy when required to do so. |
4. transf. A person by whom, or thing by which, one swears.
rare.
| c 1825 Beddoes Poems, Torrismond i. iii, If thou art..The admiration, oath, and patron saint, Of frivolous revellers. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
oath-parole,
oath-pledge,
oath-rite;
oath-breaker,
oath-breaking,
oath-keeper,
oath-making,
oath-sanctioner,
oath-taker,
oath-taking;
oath-bound,
oath-despising,
oath-detesting adjs.;
oath-helper = compurgator 1 b; hence
oath-helping vbl. n.;
oath-sick a., fastidious about oaths, having an objection to take an oath;
oath-worthy a. arch., worthy of credit on oath, worthy to be sworn by.
| 1890 Pall Mall G. 23 Oct. 6/3 An open organization and not *oath-bound, except in the case of the council. 1894 Cath. News 27 Oct. 3/2 Freemasonry is an oath-bound body. 1939 W. B. Yeats Last Poems 8 That all are oath-bound men. |
| 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 148 Blasphemers and *oath-breakers. a 1973 J. R. R. Tolkien Silmarillion (1977) ix. 83 For so sworn, good or evil, an oath may not be broken, and it shall pursue oathkeeper and oathbreaker to the world's end. |
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. ii. 38, I told him gently..Of his *Oath-breaking. |
| 1826 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) III. 8 The depositions of his *oath-despising retainers. |
| 1786 Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer xiii, Dempster, a true blue Scot I'se warran'; Thee, *aith-detesting, chaste Kilkerran. |
| 1891 N.E.D. s.v. compurgator 1 b *Oath-helper. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 331/1 One of the two litigants must prove his case, by his body in battle,..or by an oath with oath-helpers. 1943 F. M. Stenton Anglo-Saxon Eng. ix. 312 It is probable that in the earliest time a man's ‘oath-helpers’ had been chosen exclusively from among his kin. Ibid. 313 Ine of Wessex orders that every person accused of homicide, whatever his status, must include at least one man of high rank among his oath-helpers. 1970 Foote & Wilson Viking Achievement xi. 375 After the man accused had made his statement on oath, then each of his oath-helpers swore that they believed his oath to be honest. |
| 1973 A. Harding Law Courts Med. Eng. 25 The Normans let the parties fight an actual physical battle, but the Anglo-Saxons preferred trial by ordeal or by *oath-helping. |
| a 1973 *Oath-keeper [see oath-breaker above]. |
| 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices iii. (1558) 160 In an *othe-makinge, not what the feare but what the vertue of it is, ought to be considered. |
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies ii. (1662) 189 What *Oath-office is kept in London; I know not. |
| 1900 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 7/2 These spies and breakers of *oath-paroles. |
| 1884 Congregationalist June 465 The sacramental solemnity, the *oath-pledge against evil. |
| a 1634 Chapman (J.), All the *oath-rites said, I have ascended her adorned bed. |
| 1846 Grote Greece (1869) I. 8 Zeus..conferred upon Styx the majestic distinction of being the Horkos, or *oath-sanctioner of the Gods. |
| a 1716 South Twelve Serm. (1717) IV. 219 A scrupulous *Oath-sick Conscience. |
| 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 49 The Magistrates, who co-operated with this hirer of *oath-takers. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 465 Oath-takers being sadly prone to kiss their thumb, as it were. |
| 1458 Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 299 That no man..be recevid unto the franches..of the said citie save only for the same crafte that he usith at his *othe takyng. 1960 News Chron. 9 July 1/3 The Mau Mau oath-taking ceremonies. 1961 Guardian 29 Mar. 2/1 Recent reports of Mau-Mau oath-taking in Kenya. |
| 1882 Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Sax. Dict. s.v. áþ-wyrþe, Gif he áþwyrþe biþ, ‘if he be *oath-worthy’, Laws of Ine 46. 1886 Corbett Fall of Asgard II. 170 By all that we of old have deemed holy and oathworthy. |
Hence
oathed (in comb.)
a., furnished with oaths;
ˈoathful a., full of oaths;
ˈoathlet, a small or petty oath.
| 1828 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 296 Cursing and swearing in triumph in a *many-oathed language. |
| 1887 Simpson Golf x. 171 An earnest *oathful desire for victory. |
| 1835 Blackw. Mag. XXXVIII. 270 A tiny tart *oathlet. |
▪ II. oath, v. rare.
(
əʊθ,
əʊð)
Forms: 4
athe, 6
othe, 7–
oath,
oathe.
[f. oath n.] † 1. trans. To impose an oath upon, put to one's oath, conjure.
Obs.| 13.. Evang. Nicod. 1141 in Herrig Archiv LIII. 412 Bi gret god we yhow athe [L. conjurantes eos]. Ibid. 1699 We war athed full nere [L. coniurati sumus]. |
2. intr. (or with
obj. clause). To utter an oath or oaths, to swear. Also
to oath it.
| a 1617 P. Bayne Lect. (1634) 167 They carry their sinne in their fore-head, braving men, oathing it. 1627–47 Feltham Resolves i. xix. 67 'Tis easy to know a beginning swearer..He oathes it, as a cowardly fencer plays. 1851 R. F. Burton Goa 309 Complainant swears that he was not paid; witness oathes by the sun that he was. 1900 Longm. Mag. Nov. 72 Some of the soldiers..laughed and oathed in evident glee. |
3. trans. To take to oath, swear by.
| 1740 T. Connor in Gentl. Mag. 461/2, I do oath the holy seven [i.e. sacraments], His soul's with Patrick now in heaven. |
4. To address or call with oaths.
| 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 41 Some lusty carter is heard oathing a bit of the blood patrician. 1853 S. G. Osborne in Visc. Ingestre Meliora II. 11 The dogs..kept up growls of defiance, till their owners oathed them into order. |
Hence
ˈoathing vbl. n. Also
attrib.| 1680 I. C. Vind. Oaths (ed. 2) 19 If there be no oathing or swearing, there can be no for-swearing. 1681 Hickeringill Sin Man-catching Wks. 1716 I. 186 These Men-catchers lay their Snares and their Oathing-Gins to catch them. 1961 Guardian 12 May 5/5, I don't attribute the oathing to the party. Ibid. 7 June 11/4 The oathing ceremonies at Meru last month when more than a thousand people took an undisclosed oath. 1969 Daily Tel. 9 Sept. 20/6 To a Christian, secret oathing is repugnant and unacceptable. Ibid., Secret oathing ceremonies. |