swears

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of swear.

   The witness swears to tell the whole truth before testifying.

   Whenever the engine stalls in traffic, she swears under her breath.

   Note

   The -s form a singular subject takes: the witness swears, she swears. One spelling carries both halves of the verb. The solemn half covers taking an oath (she swears that it is true) and administering one (the clerk swears the witness). The other half is profanity (he swears when the engine stalls). Whatever follows the verb usually tells you which. The northern break from work reappears here too, as it does with the plural noun.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of swear.

   The transcript was peppered with swears that the editor later removed.

   Her grandmother counted the swears in the song and frowned.

   Note

   Two quite different meanings share this plural. The everyday one counts swear words: swears in a transcript, swears in a song lyric. The other belongs to Northern England and Scotland, where a swear is a short rest during working hours, especially in field labor. There a worker's swears are breaks taken, not curses uttered, and only the surrounding talk tells the two apart.

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