Now colloq. [f. SWEAR v.] An act of swearing; an oath.
1. A formal or solemn oath.
a. 1643. W. Cartwright, Ordinary, IV. iv. Gull’d by my swear, by my swear gull’d.
1691. Pol. Ballads (1860), II. 31. You must either take the swear, or starve.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Dial. Dead, Reas. Oaths, Wks. 1711, IV. 79. [He has] faced about to the Right, and taken the Swear.
1899. E. Phillpotts, Human Boy, ii. 38. We swore by a tremendous swear, to obey Trelawny. Ibid., iv. 108. She kept her swear all right.
2. A profane oath, a swear-word; also, a fit or bout of swearing.
1871. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, v. A good swear is a cure for the bile, so swear away.
1873. Carleton, Gone with a Handsomer Man, i., in Farm Ball., 27. I’ve choked a dozen swears.
1894. Besant, Equal Woman, 127. He swore a swear.
1915. D. L. R. Lorimer, Pashtu, I. 194. Khlākah. Damn me. (An Afridi swear, said to be properly Khudāké.)
b. A harsh noise made by an angry cat, bird, etc.
1895. J. G. Millais, Breath fr. Veldt (1899), 98. Its cry of alarm (a jarring swear) is almost exactly like that of the common starling.
