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from Swear, v. Idle swearing is a cursedness. Chaucer.

The act of abjuring or forswearing; a renunciation upon oath; as, abjuration of the realm, a sworn banishment, an oath taken to leave the country and never to return.

r house of Parliament, of Congress, or of a State legislature, as, for instance, by false swearing before a committee. Mozley. Abbott. - Breach of promise, violation of one's plighted word, esp. of a promise to marry. -- Breach of trust, violation of one's duty or faith in a matter entrusted to one.…

the better; amendment; rectification, as of an erroneous statement. The due correction of swearing, rioting, neglect of God's word, and other scandalouss vices. Strype.

The act of swearing solemnly. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

of; by authority; as, it was done in the name of the people; -- often used in invocation, swearing, praying, and the like. -- To be in for it. (a) To be in favor of a thing; to be committed to a course. (b) To be unable to escape from a danger, penalty, etc. [Colloq.] -- To be (or keep) in with. (a) To be close or nea…

. Most do taste through fond intemperate thirst. Milton. Use not thy mouth to intemperate swearing. Ecclus. xxiii. 13.

eed ! in truth ! -- a term of asseveration said to have been derived from the practice of swearing by the Virgin Mary. [Obs.] Shak.

Not swearing allegiance; -- applied to the party in Great Britain that would not swear allegiance to William and Mary, or their successors.

ed, by way of appeal or as a profane exclamation or ejaculation; an expression of profane swearing. "A terrible oath" Shak.

To exceed in swearing.

False swearing.

us. Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue. 1 Tim. i. 9.

of an acre, or forty square rods. By the rood, by the cross; -- a phrase formerly used in swearing. "No, by the road, not so." Shak. -- Rood beam (Arch.), a beam across the chancel of a church, supporting the road. -- Rood loft (Arch.), a loft or gallery, in a church, on which the rood and its appendagess were set up…

wand with which persons were formerly admitted tenants, they holding it in the hand, and swearing fealty to the lord. Such tenants were called tenants by the verge. [Eng.]