All 5 Uses of
forswear
in
Romeo and Juliet
- She hath forsworn to love,
Scene 1.1 (definition 1)forsworn = renounced (sworn to stop engaging in)
- Did my heart love till now?
Forswear it, sight!
For I never saw true beauty till this night.
Scene 1.5 (definition 1) *forswear = swear it is not trueeditor's notes: In this context, sight is a synonym for eyes. It's like Romeo is asking his eyes to deny something.
- I'll not be forsworn.
Scene 3.5 (definition 1)forsworn = made a liar
Uses with a very rare meaning:
- There's no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men. All perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Scene 3.2 (definition 2) *forsworn = liars
- Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,
Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue
Which she hath prais'd him with above compare
So many thousand times?
Scene 3.5 (definition 2)forsworn = made a liar (by breaking vows)
Definitions:
-
(1) (forswear as in: forswear my country of birth) to decide to stop doing something; or to renounce or disavow something
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(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus) More rarely (especially in the UK), forswear can also mean to commit perjury.