See swear on a stack of Bibles in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for swear on a stack of Bibles meaning in English (6.0kB)
{
"etymology_text": "From the practice of some people making an oath on a Bible to tell the truth when testifying in court.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "swears on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "swearing on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "swore on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "sworn on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "swear<,,swore,sworn> on a stack of Bibles"
},
"expansion": "swear on a stack of Bibles (third-person singular simple present swears on a stack of Bibles, present participle swearing on a stack of Bibles, simple past swore on a stack of Bibles, past participle sworn on a stack of Bibles)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
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"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Undetermined quotations with omitted translation",
"parents": [
"Quotations with omitted translation",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Bible",
"orig": "en:Bible",
"parents": [
"Books",
"Christianity",
"Judaism",
"Literature",
"Mass media",
"Abrahamism",
"Culture",
"Entertainment",
"Writing",
"Media",
"Religion",
"Society",
"Human behaviour",
"Language",
"Communication",
"All topics",
"Human",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1956, Billie Holiday with William Dufty, Lady Sings the Blues, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →OCLC",
"text": "Why not check me into a sanatorium, let them watch me, examine me, give me the tests? In twelve hours they can tell whether I'm lying or not. If I'm clean, I'll be all right. If I'm not, I'll get sick as a dog, start throwing up at both ends, and this would prove I'm a damn liar. It would be better than all the affidavits in the world. I could swear on a stack of Bibles, but who would believe me? […] So I did it. It cost me almost a thousand dollars to pay the doctors to watch me and supervise me down to the last minute so they could go to court and make a statement. I stayed there four days; and when I left, everyone in the place was ready to swear on a stack of Bibles that I was clean.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1962 July 13, “Sheer Coincidence”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-08-23",
"text": "Says L.A. Times Managing Editor Frank McCulloch: \"I know it looks bad, but I'll swear on a stack of Bibles it's a sheer coincidence.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2005, Jan Watson, edited by Jerry B. Jenkins, Troublesome Creek, Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.",
"text": "“Sissy, promised you won’t tell Daddy. Swear on a stack of Bibles.” He leaned into his sister and sniffled against her chest. / “I promise,” she answered. “Now what is it?” / “Swear, Sissy. Swear on a stack of Bibles!” / Copper yawned mightily, wishing to sink back under the bedclothes. “Oh, Willy, we don’t have a stack of Bibles. Besides, it’s a sin to swear. Just tell me.”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, Bryce Courtenay, Four Fires, Middlesex: Penguin Books",
"text": "‘Swear it! C’mon, swear it on a stack of Bibles!’ / ‘I swear on a stack of Bibles I’ll never tell, cross my heart and hope to die,’ I say, adding the extra bit for good measure.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Kazuko Hirose Kawaguchi, A Social Theory of International Law: International Relations as a Complex System, Leiden, Boston, Mass.: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, page 176",
"text": "Already most of us feel somewhat softer toward Japan than we swore on a stack of Bibles we ever would feel.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, Witch Beliefs and Witch Trials in the Middle Ages: Documents and Readings, London, New York, N.Y.: Continuum International Publishing Group, page 95",
"text": "From what has been said so far, […] and their many perjuries in front of the judges during interrogation (because don't care about perjuring themselves and drawing down curses upon themselves and swearing on a stack of Bibles), it is clear that, because of their essential nature and formal profession of belief and reception into their congregation, these Waldensians are apostates from the faith, idolaters and guilty of the crime of treason against God; […]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To make a promise or give an assurance with great conviction."
],
"id": "en-swear_on_a_stack_of_Bibles-en-verb-zptCoKfp",
"links": [
[
"promise",
"promise"
],
[
"assurance",
"assurance"
],
[
"conviction",
"conviction"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "swear on"
},
{
"word": "swear upon"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "swear on one's life"
},
{
"word": "swear on the Bible"
},
{
"tags": [
"ellipsis"
],
"word": "swear on a stack"
},
{
"word": "swear on stacks of Bibles"
},
{
"word": "promise on a stack of Bibles"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "vannoa käsi Raamatulla"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "jurer ses grands dieux"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "Translations",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "przysięgać na wszystkie świętości"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"McFarland & Company"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
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"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/En-au-swear_on_a_stack_of_Bibles.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "swear on a stack of Bibles"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From the practice of some people making an oath on a Bible to tell the truth when testifying in court.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "swears on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "swearing on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "swore on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "sworn on a stack of Bibles",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "swear<,,swore,sworn> on a stack of Bibles"
},
"expansion": "swear on a stack of Bibles (third-person singular simple present swears on a stack of Bibles, present participle swearing on a stack of Bibles, simple past swore on a stack of Bibles, past participle sworn on a stack of Bibles)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "swear on"
},
{
"word": "swear upon"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"English verbs",
"Translation table header lacks gloss",
"Undetermined quotations with omitted translation",
"Undetermined terms with quotations",
"en:Bible"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1956, Billie Holiday with William Dufty, Lady Sings the Blues, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →OCLC",
"text": "Why not check me into a sanatorium, let them watch me, examine me, give me the tests? In twelve hours they can tell whether I'm lying or not. If I'm clean, I'll be all right. If I'm not, I'll get sick as a dog, start throwing up at both ends, and this would prove I'm a damn liar. It would be better than all the affidavits in the world. I could swear on a stack of Bibles, but who would believe me? […] So I did it. It cost me almost a thousand dollars to pay the doctors to watch me and supervise me down to the last minute so they could go to court and make a statement. I stayed there four days; and when I left, everyone in the place was ready to swear on a stack of Bibles that I was clean.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1962 July 13, “Sheer Coincidence”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-08-23",
"text": "Says L.A. Times Managing Editor Frank McCulloch: \"I know it looks bad, but I'll swear on a stack of Bibles it's a sheer coincidence.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2005, Jan Watson, edited by Jerry B. Jenkins, Troublesome Creek, Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.",
"text": "“Sissy, promised you won’t tell Daddy. Swear on a stack of Bibles.” He leaned into his sister and sniffled against her chest. / “I promise,” she answered. “Now what is it?” / “Swear, Sissy. Swear on a stack of Bibles!” / Copper yawned mightily, wishing to sink back under the bedclothes. “Oh, Willy, we don’t have a stack of Bibles. Besides, it’s a sin to swear. Just tell me.”",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, Bryce Courtenay, Four Fires, Middlesex: Penguin Books",
"text": "‘Swear it! C’mon, swear it on a stack of Bibles!’ / ‘I swear on a stack of Bibles I’ll never tell, cross my heart and hope to die,’ I say, adding the extra bit for good measure.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Kazuko Hirose Kawaguchi, A Social Theory of International Law: International Relations as a Complex System, Leiden, Boston, Mass.: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, page 176",
"text": "Already most of us feel somewhat softer toward Japan than we swore on a stack of Bibles we ever would feel.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, Witch Beliefs and Witch Trials in the Middle Ages: Documents and Readings, London, New York, N.Y.: Continuum International Publishing Group, page 95",
"text": "From what has been said so far, […] and their many perjuries in front of the judges during interrogation (because don't care about perjuring themselves and drawing down curses upon themselves and swearing on a stack of Bibles), it is clear that, because of their essential nature and formal profession of belief and reception into their congregation, these Waldensians are apostates from the faith, idolaters and guilty of the crime of treason against God; […]",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To make a promise or give an assurance with great conviction."
],
"links": [
[
"promise",
"promise"
],
[
"assurance",
"assurance"
],
[
"conviction",
"conviction"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "swear on one's life"
},
{
"word": "swear on the Bible"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"McFarland & Company"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-swear on a stack of Bibles.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/85/En-au-swear_on_a_stack_of_Bibles.ogg/En-au-swear_on_a_stack_of_Bibles.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/En-au-swear_on_a_stack_of_Bibles.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"tags": [
"ellipsis"
],
"word": "swear on a stack"
},
{
"word": "swear on stacks of Bibles"
},
{
"word": "promise on a stack of Bibles"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "vannoa käsi Raamatulla"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "Translations",
"word": "jurer ses grands dieux"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "Translations",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "przysięgać na wszystkie świętości"
}
],
"word": "swear on a stack of Bibles"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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