oath

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English

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Etymology

From Middle English ooth, oth, ath, from Old English āþ (“oath”), from Proto-Germanic *aiþaz (“oath”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óytos (“oath”). Cognate with Scots aith, athe (“oath”), North Frisian ith, iss (“oath”), West Frisian eed (“oath”), Dutch eed (“oath”), German Eid (“oath”), Swedish ed (“oath”), Icelandic eið (“oath”), Latin ūtor (“use, employ, avail”), Old Irish óeth (“oath”).

Pronunciation

Noun

oath (plural oaths)

  1. A solemn pledge or promise, appealing to a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest to the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.
    • 2007, George Simmons Roth, Battle in Outer Space (→ISBN):
      But all of us took an oath to do our duty when we joined the Space Force, and I fully expect everyone to willingly keep their word. But you took no oath, and have no obligation.
    • 2011, Mark Leyne, "The Tetherballs of Bougainville: A Novel
      There are […] brought all the way from Bougainville to present their birth certificates and testify in this courtroom, under oath, as to their given names.
  2. A statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.
    After taking the oath of office, she became the country's forty-third premier.
    The generals swore an oath of loyalty to the country.
  3. A light, irreverent or insulting appeal to a deity or other entity.
  4. A curse, a curse word.
    • 1981, Bernard Asbell, The Senate Nobody Knows:
      The farther from the Senator's office, the darker and older the furniture, the freer fly four-letter oaths, the higher the heaps of unfiled and unattended papers culminating in a frenzy of pulp in the press section […]

Synonyms

Derived terms

Derived terms

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Related terms

Translations

curse — see curse
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

oath (third-person singular simple present oaths, present participle oathing, simple past and past participle oathed)

  1. (archaic) To pledge.

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

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