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p. p. of Swear. Sworn brothers, originally, companions in arms who took an oath to share together good and bad fortune; hence, faithful friends. -- Sworn enemies, determined or irreconcilable enemies. -- Sworn friends, close friends.

p. p. of Forswear.

State of being forsworn. [R.]

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.

A sworn statement in writing; a declaration in writing, signed and made upon oath before an authorized magistrate. Bouvier. Burrill.

A measure by the ell; formerly a sworn officer in England, whose duty was to inspect act measure woolen cloth, and fix upon it a seal.

One who appraises; esp., a person appointed and sworn to estimate and fix the value of goods or estates.

To sin; esp., to be incontinent. [Obs.] Commit not with man's sworn spouse. Shak.

One who swears or is sworn with others; one bound by oath with others; a compurgator. Burrill.

A band of sworn soldiers; a division of the Spartan army ranging from twenty-five to thirty-six men, bound together by oath.

A sworn appraiser.

The liberty of being sworn in courts, as a juror or witness; one of the ancient privileges of a freeman; free and common law; -- an obsolete expression signifying substantially the same as the American expression civil rights. Abbot.

s still, but with thought how changed! The genius of Augustus was a tutelary demon, to be sworn by and to receive offerings on an altar as a deity. Tylor.

ble; as, an infamous traitor; an infamous perjurer. False errant knight, infamous, and forsworn. Spenser.

sy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife. Num. v. 14. To both these sisters have I sworn my love: Each jealous of the other, as the stung Are of the adder. Shak. It is one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do if she find him jealou…

r answer in chancery, showing when, before whom, and (in English practice), where, it was sworn or affirmed. Wharton. Bouvier.

A body of men, usually twelve, selected according to law, impaneled and sworn to inquire into and try any matter of fact, and to render their true verdict according to the evidence legally adduced. See Grand jury under Grand, and Inquest. The jury, passing on the prisoner's life. Shak.

ssion. [Obs.] Of the sect to which that he was born He kept his lay, to which that he was sworn. Chaucer.

ptial ceremony; -- now only in the plural. Celebration of that nuptial, which We two have sworn shall come. Shak. Preparations . . . for the approaching nuptials. Prescott.

Guilty of perjury; having sworn falsely; forsworn. Shak. "Perjured persons." 1 Tim. i. 10. "Their perjured oath." Spenser.