forswear •
\for-SWAIR\ • verb 1 : to make a liar of (oneself) under or as if under
oath 2 a : to reject, deny, or renounce under oath b : to renounce earnestly
Examples:
Tina forswore
flying after the latest airline mishap left her stranded in Chicago for
eighteen hours.
"… the film finds
Cotillard playing an ordinary woman who, shortly after recovering from a period
of depression, finds herself being laid off in unusual circumstances. If she
can persuade a majority of her colleagues to forswear their annual bonuses then
she can keep her job." — Donald Clarke, The Irish Times, August 22, 2014
Did you know? Forswear
(which is also sometimes spelled foreswear) is the modern English equivalent of
the Old English forswerian. It can suggest denial ("[Thou] would'st
forswear thy own hand and seal" — John Arbuthnot, John Bull) or perjury
("Is it the interest of any man … to lie, forswear himself, indulge
hatred, seek desperate revenge, or do murder?" — Charles Dickens, American
Notes). But in current use, it most often has to do with giving something up,
as in "the warring parties agreed to forswear violence" and "she
refused to forswear her principles." The word abjure is often used as a
synonym of forswear, though with less emphasis on the suggestion of perjury or
betrayal of the beliefs that one holds dear.
No comments:
Post a Comment