swear

• vt. 发誓；咒骂
• vi. 发誓，宣誓；诅咒
• n. 宣誓；诅咒

来自古英语 swerian,发誓，来自 Proto-Germanic*swarjana,说，发誓，来自 PIE*swer,说，讲。 引申词义咒骂，诅咒。

1. utter obscenities or profanities;

"The drunken men were cursing loudly in the street"

2. to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true;

"Before God I swear I am innocent"

3. promise solemnly; take an oath

4. make a deposition; declare under oath

5. have confidence or faith in;

"We can trust in God"

"Rely on your friends"

"bank on your good education"

"I swear by my grandmother's recipes"

swear

swear: [OE] Swear is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German schwören, Dutch zweren, Swedish svärja, and Danish sverge. They all go back to a prehistoric Germanic *swarjan, a derivative of the base *swar-, which also lies behind the second syllable of English answer. And this in turn may come ultimately from the same Indo-European base as produced English sermon. The verb’s original meaning was ‘take an oath’; its use for ‘curse, blaspheme’ dates from the 15th century.
=> answer

swear (v.)

Old English swerian "take an oath" (class VI strong verb; past tense swor, past participle sworen), from Proto-Germanic *swarjan-, (cognates: Old Saxon swerian, Old Frisian swera, Old Norse sverja, Danish sverge, Middle Dutch swaren, Old High German swerien, German schwören, Gothic swaren "to swear"), from PIE root *swer- (1) "to speak, talk, say" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic svara "quarrel," Oscan sverrunei "to the speaker").

Also related to the second element in answer. The secondary sense of "use bad language" (early 15c.) developed from the notion of "invoke sacred names." Swear off "desist as with a vow" is from 1898. Swear in "install in office by administration of an oath" is from 1700 in modern use, echoing Old English.

Lots of people swear they can absorb new information more efficiently at some times of the day than at others.

2017年6月六级真题（第一套）听力 Section C

She fell over and swore loudly.

她摔倒了，大骂了一声。

牛津词典

Why did you let him swear at you like that?

你怎么听任他那么骂你呢？

牛津词典

He swore revenge on the man who had killed his father.

他发誓要向那个杀死他父亲的人报仇。

牛津词典

I swear (that) I'll never leave you.

我保证决不离开你。

牛津词典

She made him swear not to tell anyone.

她要他发誓不告诉任何人。

牛津词典

She swore (that) she'd never seen him before.

她明确表示自己以前从未见过他。

牛津词典

I could have sworn (= I am sure) I heard the phone ring.

我敢肯定我听见电话铃响了。

牛津词典

I swear to God I had nothing to do with it.

我可以对天发誓，这跟我一点关系也没有。

牛津词典

Witnesses were required to swear on the Bible.

证人须手按《圣经》宣誓。

牛津词典

Are you willing to stand up in court and swear that you don't recognize him?

你愿出庭起誓说你不认识他吗？

牛津词典

Remember, you have sworn to tell the truth.

别忘记，你宣过誓要讲实话。

牛津词典

Barons had to swear an oath of allegiance to the king.

贵族须宣誓效忠国王。

牛津词典

Everyone was sworn to secrecy about what had happened.

关于已发生的事，每个人都依照要求起誓不外传。

牛津词典

I swear by almighty God that I will tell the truth.

我向全能的上帝起誓，我以下所说句句属实。

牛津词典

She swears by meditation as a way of relieving stress.

她深信冥想有助于缓解压力。

牛津词典

He was sworn in as president.

他宣誓就任总统。

牛津词典

The new prime minister was sworn into office.

新首相宣誓就职。

牛津词典

I think I put the keys back in the drawer, but I couldn't swear to it (= I'm not completely sure) .

我觉得我把钥匙放回抽屉里了，不过我不敢肯定。

牛津词典

It's wrong to swear and shout...

破口大骂是不对的。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

They swore at them and ran off.

他们骂了他们后就跑掉了。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

Alan swore that he would do everything in his power to help us...

艾伦许诺要尽其所能帮助我们。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

We have sworn to fight cruelty wherever we find it...

我们发誓要见恶除恶。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I swear I've told you all I know...

我发誓我已经把我所知道的全都告诉你了。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I swear on all I hold dear that I had nothing to do with this...

我以身家性命担保，我和这件事无关。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

She was bursting to announce the news but was sworn to secrecy.

她急不可待想宣布这个消息，但却发过誓要守口如瓶。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I know it's hard not to swear when your feelings get working.

我知道,脾气一上来,不骂娘,确实不容易.

辞典例句

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

我发誓说出真相, 整个真相,完完全全的真相.

期刊摘选