Definition
nounA solemn pledge or promise that invokes a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.
nounA statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.
Sentence Examples
The knight swore an oath of allegiance to the king.
He said under oath that he was born in Italy.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English ooth, oth, ath, from Old English āþ (“oath”), from Proto-West Germanic *aiþ (“oath”), from Proto-Germanic *aiþaz (“oath”).
Cognate with Scots aith, athe (“oath”), North Frisian ith, iss (“oath”), Saterland Frisian Eed (“oath”), West Frisian eed (“oath”), Dutch eed (“oath”), German Eid (“oath”), Swedish ed (“oath”), Icelandic eið (“oath”), Latin ūtor (“make use of, employ, avail”, verb), Old Irish óeth (“oath”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 2007, George Simmons Roth, Battle in Outer Space, →ISBN:
"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."
— 2011, Mark Leyne, The Tetherballs of Bougainville: A Novel:
"Wrex: [sigh] Before I left, I made an oath to my father's father.
Wrex: I swore to recover my family's battle armor. It was taken from him after the uprising."
— 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1:
"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[…]"
— 1981, Bernard Asbell, The Senate Nobody Knows: