unswear
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Verb
[edit]unswear (third-person singular simple present unswears, present participle unswearing, simple past unswore, past participle unsworn)
- To recall a previously sworn oath.
- 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:
- The Ape was glad to end the strife so light ,
And there - to swore ; for who would not oft swear ,
And oft unswear , a diadem to bear ?
- 1626 February 13 (licensing date), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Noble Gentleman”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- unswear that oath again, I'll tell you all;
References
[edit]“unswear”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.