oath

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a commitment to tell the truth (especially in a court of law)

   to lie under oath is to become subject to prosecution for perjury

2. 2
   noun

   a solemn promise, usually invoking a divine witness, regarding your future acts or behavior

   they took an oath of allegiance

3. 3
   noun

   A 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.

   take an oath

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   A curse, a curse word.

   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[…]

6. 6
   noun

   profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger

7. 7
   noun

   A light, irreverent or insulting appeal to a deity or other entity.

8. 8
   verb

   To pledge.

Etymology

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”).