different between deliver vs swear

English

Alternative forms

• delivre (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English deliveren, from Anglo-Norman and Old French delivrer, from Latin d? + l?ber? (“to set free”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??l?v?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??l?v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)
• Hyphenation: de?liv?er

Verb

deliver (third-person singular simple present delivers, present participle delivering, simple past and past participle delivered)

1. To set free from restraint or danger.

   Synonyms: free, liberate, release

2. (process) To do with birth.
   1. To assist in the birth of.

   2. (formal, with "of") To assist (a female) in bearing, that is, in bringing forth (a child).

      • Sche was delivered sauf and sone

   3. To give birth to.

3. To free from or disburden of anything.
   • 1622, Henry Peacham, The Compleat Gentleman

     Tully was long ere he could be delivered of a few verses, and those poor ones.

4. To bring or transport something to its destination.
5. To hand over or surrender (someone or something) to another.
6. (intransitive, informal) To produce what was expected or required.
   • 2004, Detroit News, Detroit Pistons: Champions at Work (page 86)

     "You know, he plays great sometimes when he doesn't score," Brown said. "Tonight, with Rip (Richard Hamilton) struggling, we needed somebody to step up, and he really did. He really delivered."
7. To express in words or vocalizations, declare, utter, or vocalize.

8. To give forth in action or exercise; to discharge.

   • shaking his head and delivering some show of tears
9. To discover; to show.
10. (obsolete) To admit; to allow to pass.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

11. (medicine) To administer a drug.

Synonyms

• (to set free): free, loose, rid, outbring
• (to express): utter, outbring
• (produce what was required): come through, come up with the goods

Derived terms

• delivery
• deliverable
• deliver the goods

Translations

Anagrams

• delivre, livered, relived, reviled

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sw??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sw??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English sweren, swerien, from Old English swerian (“to swear, take an oath of office”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjan? (“to speak, swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”).

Cognate with West Frisian swarre (“to swear”), Saterland Frisian swera (“to swear”), Dutch zweren (“to swear, vow”), Low German swören (“to swear”), sweren, German schwören (“to swear”), Danish sværge, Swedish svära (“to swear”), Icelandic sverja (“to swear”), Russian ????? (svara, “quarrel”). Also cognate to Albanian var (“to hang, consider, to depend from”) through Proto-Indo-European.

The original sense in all Germanic languages is “to take an oath”. The sense “to use bad language” developed in Middle English and is based on the Christian prohibition against swearing in general (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) and invoking God’s name in particular (i.e. frequent swearing was considered similar to the use of obscene words).

Verb

swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past swore or (archaic) sware, past participle sworn or yswore)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To take an oath, to promise.

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To use offensive, profane, or obscene language.

Usage notes

• In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:swear word
• See also Thesaurus:swear

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From the above verb, or from Middle English sware, from Old English swaru, from Proto-Germanic *swar?.

Noun

swear (plural swears)

1. A swear word.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá

     You might think it funny to hear this Kanaka girl come out with a big swear. No such thing. There was no swearing in her — no, nor anger; she was beyond anger, and meant the word simple and serious.

Etymology 3

From Middle English swere, swer, swar, from Old English sw?r, sw?r (“heavy, heavy as a burden, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sw?r, from Proto-Germanic *sw?raz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).

Cognate with West Frisian swier (“heavy”), Dutch zwaar (“heavy, hard, difficult”), German schwer (“heavy, hard, difficult”), Swedish svår (“heavy, hard, severe”), Latin s?rius (“earnest, grave, solemn, serious”) and Albanian varrë (“wound, plague”).

Alternative forms

• sweer, sweir, swere

Adjective

swear (comparative swearer or more swear, superlative swearest or most swear)

1. (Britain dialectal) Heavy.
2. (Britain dialectal) Top-heavy; too high.
3. (Britain dialectal) Dull; heavy; lazy; slow; reluctant; unwilling.
4. (Britain dialectal) Niggardly.
5. (Britain dialectal) A lazy time; a short rest during working hours (especially field labour); a siesta.

Derived terms

Verb

swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past and past participle sweared)

1. (Britain dialectal) To be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.

References

• swear at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• resaw, sawer, sware, wares, wears