ppl. a. [Pa. pple. of SWEAR v.]
1. That has taken or is bound by an oath.
Sworn brother: either of two companions in arms who took an oath according to the rules of chivalry to share each other’s good and bad fortunes; hence, either of two comrades or friends who are absolutely faithful or devoted to each other; a close or intimate friend or companion. So sworn friend. Sworn enemy, foe: one who has vowed perpetual enmity against another; hence, a determined or irreconcilable enemy.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 824. He woren breðere of kinde boren, And abram woren he breðre sworen.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 1010. I wol ensuren the … That I shal neuer fro the go But be thyn ovne sworen brother.
c. 1440. Generydes, 4834. His sworn broder he was in sothfastnes.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 5. Robert Doyly and Roger of Iuory, sworne brethren and i-confederyd … euerich to other by feythe and sacrament, come to the conquest of Inglonde with Kyng William bastarde.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 21. Although I had beene your sworne and professed foe.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. i. 23. I am sworne Brother (Sweet) To grim Necessitie; and hee and I Will keepe a League till Death. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, I. i. 73. Who is his companion now? He hath euery month a new sworne brother.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 1152. Those sworne enemies of the Christian Religion.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 167. Now my sworne Friend, and then mine Enemy.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), II. 538. Private profit is (though a secret) a sworn enemy to the general good.
1780. Cowper, On Burning Ld. Mansfield’s Library, 2. The Vandals of our isle, Sworn foes to sense and law.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, x. That boy’s father and myself, Sir, were sworn friends.
1870. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (ed. 2), I. App. 690. Cnut … proposes that they [sc. he and Eadmund] shall … divide the Kingdom and become sworn brothers (‘fratres adoptivi’).
b. With other sbs. (esp. agent-nouns): Thoroughly devoted or addicted to some course of action; resolute, out-and-out, inveterate.
1607. Shaks., Timon, III. v. 68. He’s a sworne Riotor.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. xvi. Thou sworn horse-courser, hold thy peace.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. ii. The Soldiers at Jalès … were in heart sworn Sansculottes.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xl. (1871), V. 10. Every theory had its special teacher, every paradox its sworn defender.
2. Appointed or admitted with a formal or prescribed oath to some office or function.
Sworn broker: see quots. 1855, 1901.
1433. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 432/1. Certain bokes and recordes of youre Eschequier, made by youre sworn Officers.
1445. Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 14. They sal sell na flesche quhill it be prisit be the sworne prisaris.
1499. in J. Bulloch, Pynours (1887), 57. It was deliuerit be ane suorne assiss Alexander Chamer forspekar that the pynouris sal pay [etc.].
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. i. 20. The Iury … May in the sworne-twelue haue a thiefe, or two Guiltier then him they try. Ibid. (1605), Lear, III. iv. 84. Sweare not, commit not with mans sworne Spouse.
1702. Post Man, 1–3 Jan., 2/2, Advt. At the Office of Mr. Temple, Sworn Broker of London.
1707. E. Smith (title), Phædra and Hippolitus. A Tragedy as it is Acted at the Queen’s Theatre … by Her Majesty’s Sworn Servants.
1793–4. Matthews’s Bristol Directory, 30. Dunn, John, Sworn-measurer, Glocester-lane.
1818. Shelley, Rosal. & Helen, 289. To be His sworn bride eternally.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxx. The Duke of Burgundy, the sworn vassal of France.
1842. Act 5 & 6 Vict., c. 103 § 1. The Offices of Comptrollers of the Hanaper, Six Clerks, Sworn Clerks, and Waiting Clerks … are hereby abolished.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, ix. One Brogley, sworn broker and appraiser, who kept a shop where every description of second-hand furniture was exhibited.
1855. F. Playford, Pract. Hints Investing Money, 21. Sworn-brokers, who, not content with having gained private confidence, have complied in addition with certain City regulations; as becoming citizens of London, and being sworn in before the Lord Mayor.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 15 Aug., 7/1. There are some firms who to this day have the words ‘Sworn brokers’ printed upon their business cards…. All who aspired to carry on business as brokers had to attend the Court of Aldermen and be formally sworn.
b. Sworn man (formerly written in one word): gen. a man bound by oath to the performance of a duty or office; hence, a man bound to strict service, a ‘vassal,’ ‘henchman’; † spec. a 16th-century name for the church officers appointed to assist the churchwardens, later called side(s)men.
1571. Grindal, Injunctions, § 22. C iij. That the Churchwardens and sworne men of euerie Parishe shall halfe-yearely … present to the Ordinarie the names of all such persons of their Parishe, as be … blasphemers of the name of God [etc.].
1582. Fetherstone, Dial. agst. Dancing, C 5. By this you seeme to burthen Churchwardens and sworne men with periurie.
1593. R. Harvey, Philad., 4. Brute and his fellowes swornemen were worth all the rest.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 9. They will not trust the people with it [sc. the Scripture], no not as it is set foorth by their owne sworne men.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 201. Being found guilty by a lurie of twelve sworne men.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 88. To remove all doubt, six sworn men were appointed from different places in the neighbourhood to watch her day and night.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., vii. Richard Varney is my sworn man, and a close brother of my secret council.
1890. Eliz. Lamond, trans. Walter of Henley’s Husb., 7. Survey your lands and tenements by true and sworn men.
3. Affirmed or promised by an oath; confirmed by swearing; to which one is sworn.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxiii. Are you willing to barter sworn faith … to this wretched hypocritical sophistry?
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, I. v. 107. If it had been to-morrow, I’d not have gone upon the thing, for to-day my sworn service is out.
1909. trans. Hopf’s Hum. Species, 7. The Koran requires no such sworn evidence.
b. with prep. or adv.: cf. SWEAR v. III. IV.
1869. Adam Smith’s W. N., I. v. I. 45, note. Bullion … not the produce of English coin … being called technically sworn-off gold.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 1 July, 4/2. Their statistics and almost sworn-to facts could not hold water.
