different between swear vs claim

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

English

Alternative forms

• claym (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English claimen, borrowed from Old French clamer (“to call, name, send for”), from Latin cl?m?, cl?m?re (“to call, cry out”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh?- (“to shout”), which is imitative; see also Lithuanian kalba (“language”), Old English hl?wan (“to low, make a noise like a cow”), Old High German halan (“to call”), Ancient Greek ????? (kalé?, “to call, convoke”), ?????? (kledon, “report, fame”), ??????? (kélados, “noise”), Middle Irish cailech (“cock”), Latin cal? (“to call out, announce solemnly”), Sanskrit ????? (u?a?kala, “cock”, literally “dawn-calling”). Cognate with Spanish llamar and clamar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kle?m/
• Rhymes: -e?m

Noun

claim (plural claims)

1. A demand of ownership made for something.

   a claim of ownership

   a claim of victory

2. The thing claimed.
3. The right or ground of demanding.

   You don't have any claim on my time, since I'm no longer your employee.

4. A new statement of something one believes to be the truth, usually when the statement has yet to be verified or without valid evidence provided.

   The company's share price dropped amid claims of accounting fraud.

5. A demand of ownership for previously unowned land.

   Miners had to stake their claims during the gold rush.

6. (law) A legal demand for compensation or damages.

Usage notes

• Demand ownership of land not previously owned. One usually stakes a claim.
• The legal sense. One usually makes a claim. See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Descendants

• ? Afrikaans: kleim
• ? Dutch: claimen

Translations

Verb

claim (third-person singular simple present claims, present participle claiming, simple past and past participle claimed)

1. To demand ownership of.
2. To state a new fact, typically without providing evidence to prove it is true.
3. To demand ownership or right to use for land.
4. (law) To demand compensation or damages through the courts.
5. (intransitive) To be entitled to anything; to deduce a right or title; to have a claim.

   • We must know how the first ruler, from whom any one claims, came by his authority, upon what ground any one has empire

6. To cause the loss of, usually by violent means.

7. (archaic) To proclaim.

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

8. (archaic) To call or name.

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

Translations

Related terms

• claimable
• claimant
• claimer
• disclaim
• disclaimer

Further reading

• claim in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• claim in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• malic

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

claim

1. first-person singular present indicative of claimen
2. imperative of claimen

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: klaim