different between roar vs swear

English

Etymology

From Middle English roren, raren, from Old English r?rian (“to roar; wail; lament”), from Proto-Germanic *rair?n? (“to bellow; roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to shout; bellow; yell; bark”), perhaps of imitative origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rô, IPA^(key): /???/
• (General American) enPR: rôr, IPA^(key): /???/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: r?r, IPA^(key): /?o(?)?/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?o?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: raw (in non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger)

Verb

roar (third-person singular simple present roars, present participle roaring, simple past and past participle roared)

1. (intransitive) To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion.
2. To laugh in a particularly loud manner.

3. Of animals (especially the lion), to make a loud deep noise.
   • {1590 Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene Bk 1, Canto VI, XXIV, lines 6&7}

     Roaring bulls he would him make to tame.

4. Generally, of inanimate objects etc., to make a loud resounding noise.
   • How oft I crossed where carts and coaches roar.

5. (figuratively) To proceed vigorously.
6. (transitive) To cry aloud; to proclaim loudly.
   • 1639, John Ford, The Lady's Trial

     This last action will roar thy infamy.
7. To be boisterous; to be disorderly.
   • 1724, Gilbert Burnet, History of My Own Time

     It was a mad, roaring time, full of extravagance.

8. To make a loud noise in breathing, as horses do when they have a certain disease.
9. (Britain Yorkshire, North Midlands, informal) to cry

Translations

Noun

roar (plural roars)

1. A long, loud, deep shout, as of rage or laughter, made with the mouth wide open.
2. The cry of the lion.
   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

     The Winkies were not a brave people, but they had to do as they were told. So they marched away until they came near to Dorothy. Then the Lion gave a great roar and sprang towards them, and the poor Winkies were so frightened that they ran back as fast as they could.

3. The deep cry of the bull.
4. A loud resounding noise.

   the roar of a motorbike

   • 1944, Ernie Pyle, Brave Men, University of Nebraska Press (2001), page 107:

     "Those lovely valleys and mountains were filled throughout the day and night with the roar of heavy shooting."

5. A show of strength or character.

Translations

Anagrams

• Raro, orra

Swedish

Verb

roar

1. present tense of roa.

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