forswore

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for·swear

also fore·swear (fôr-swâr′)

v. for·swore (-swôr′), for·sworn (-swôrn′), for·swear·ing, for·swears

v.tr.

a. To decide or declare that one will not or will no longer engage in (an activity or habit, for example): a political group that has forsworn violence.

b. To decide or declare that one will not or will no longer use or be associated with (something): "He had cast in his lot with the lions and forsworn the lambs" (Robert Louis Stevenson).

c. To disavow under oath: "He was forced to take an oath forswearing heretical views" (Garry Wills).

2. To make (oneself) guilty of perjury.

v.intr.

To swear falsely; commit perjury

Idiom:

be forsworn

To commit perjury.

[Middle English forsweren, from Old English forswerian : for-, wrongly; see for- + swerian, to swear; see swear.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in classic literature ?

And one and all forswore fealty to Prince John, and lived quietly with Robin in the greenwood, doing harm to none and only awaiting the time when King Richard should come again.

View in context

He forswore, however, staying in the European Quarter itself, and its upscale hotels which regularly house EU heads of state during summit meetings.

No chateau: Catalan leader's modest Belgian exile

Many people rather than trouble to make a sugar registration forswore the use of the sweetening commodity.

War Diary: February 5, 1918; Stories from the ECHO during the war years

If Iran forswore the full fuel cycle it could be provided with security guarantees, a lifting of sanctions and normalised diplomatic relations.