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Wager vs Swear - What's the difference?

wager | swear |

As nouns the difference between wager and swear

is that wager is something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a stake; a pledge or wager can be agent noun of wage; one who wages while swear is a swearword.

As verbs the difference between wager and swear

is that wager is to bet something; to put it up as collateral while swear is to take an oath or swear can be to be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.

As an adjective swear is

heavy.

wager

English

(Webster 1913)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) wageure'', from ''wagier'' "to pledge" (compare Old French guagier, whence modern French gager). See also ''wage .

Noun

(wikipedia wager) (en noun)
  • Something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a stake; a pledge.
  • * Sir W. Temple
    • Besides these Plates, the Wagers may be as the Persons please among themselves, but the Horses must be evidenced by good Testimonies to have been bred in Ireland.
  • * Bentley
    • If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager against such an inexhaustible disproportion, let him never hereafter accuse others of credulity.
  • (legal) A contract by which two parties or more agree that a certain sum of money, or other thing, shall be paid or delivered to one of them, on the happening or not happening of an uncertain event.
    • (Bouvier)
  • That on which bets are laid; the subject of a bet.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To bet something; to put it up as collateral
    • I'd wager my boots on it.
  • (figuratively) To daresay.
    • I'll wager that Johnson knows something about all this.
    Synonyms
    * (to daresay) lay odds

    Etymology 2

    From the verb, to wage + .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Agent noun of wage; one who wages.
  • * 1912 , Pocumtack Valley Memorial Association, History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association , p. 65:
    • They were wagers of warfare against the wilderness and the Indians, and founders of families and towns.
  • * 1957 , Elsa Maxwell, How to Do It; Or, The Lively Art of Entertaining , p. 7:
    • Hatshepsut was no wager of wars, no bloodstained conqueror.
    English agent nouns

    swear

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) sweren, swerien, from (etyl) through Proto-Indo-European.

    Verb

  • To take an oath.
  • *
  • *: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.
  • (lb) To use offensive language.
    • Synonyms
    * See also
    Usage notes
    * In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * swear by * swear like a trooper * swear on a stack of Bibles * swear out * swear to God * swear word

    Etymology 2

    From the above verb, or from (etyl) sware, from (etyl) swaru, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A swearword.

    • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) swer, swar, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l), (l)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Heavy.
  • Top-heavy; too high.
  • Dull; heavy; lazy; slow; reluctant; unwilling.
  • Niggardly.
  • A lazy time; a short rest during working hours (especially field labour); a siesta.
    • Derived terms
    * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.

    • Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs English reporting verbs