swore

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: swôr, IPA^(key): /swɔɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: swô, IPA^(key): /swɔː/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: swōr, IPA^(key): /swo(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /swoə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (nonstandard but traditional, several locations) enPR: swo͝or, IPA^(key): /swʊɹ/, /swʊə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

Verb

swore

1. simple past of swear
2. (dialectal or colloquial) past participle of swear
   • 1663 (indicated as 1664), [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 133:

     If that were all, for some have swore / As false as they, if th' did no more […]

   • 1990 [1875], R. H. Super, quoting Anthony Trollope, The Chronicler of Barsetshire: A Life of Anthony Trollope‎^[1], page 337:

     " […] I have 'swore off' smoking. But you shall have your pipe (the old tobacco) or cigars among the books. It will be quite a delight."

   • 2014 January 14, Roberta Rogow, The Problem of the Surly Servant‎^[2], →ISBN, page 109:

     “Were it not for the fancy French and Latin in it, I'd have swore it was the sort of thing I do not print as a rule, but being as how the order was from one of the members upstairs...”

Anagrams

• Rowse, WOREs, owers, owres, resow, rowse, serow, sower, sowre, worse

Middle English

Noun

swore

1. Alternative form of sware