喜樂美語

Think of it as words that a person lifts up and locks in front of witnesses — a promise so weighted that breaking it would break the person's own standing.

一個人把話「立」起來，當著見證者的面說出一句自己往後都要照著走的話。vow 的重量不在內容有多難，而在那句話一旦出口就被鎖住了——它不像 promise 那樣可以順口說說，它通常有場合、有見證、有分量。可以想成你把自己的名譽押在那句話上面：說出來之後，反悔的代價不是別人罰你，而是你自己站不住。

From the word’s history

Latin vōtum ‘a promise, a thing pledged to a god’, from vovēre ‘to pledge’; vote is a doublet — both are acts of formally handing over your will so it counts.

拉丁文 vōtum 意思是「許下的願、獻給神的承諾」，來自動詞 vovēre（許願、承諾）。這條線索和今天的核心很貼合：vow 最早是對神說的話——你把一句話獻出去，就再也收不回來。有趣的是 vote（投票）和 vow 是同源的雙生詞，投票同樣是把自己的意志正式交出去、讓它算數。

Wiktionary, entry ‘vow’ (Middle English vowe < Old French vut < Latin vōtum, from vovēre); doublet of vote.

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容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

n複數 vows

v過去式 vowed過去分詞 vowed-ing vowing三單 vows

意思相近

promiseoathpledgededicationswearcommitmentholy vowsundertakewedding promisesreligious vowsdedicatemarriage promises+1

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

vownoun/vaʊ/

  • 1

    A solemn promise to perform some act, or behave in a specified manner, especially a promise to live and act in accordance with the rules of a religious order.

    • The old hermit, up in the mountains, took a vow of silence.
    • And Moses spake vnto the heads of the tribes, concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. If a man vowe a vow vnto the Lord, or sweare an othe to bind his soule with a bond: he shall not breake his word, hee shall doe according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
  • 2

    A declaration or assertion.

    • Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.
  • 3

    obsoleteA votive offering.

    • There are also waxen vows, that represent other parts of the body mixed with them; but of these there are few in comparison of the number of the Priapi.

vowverb/vaʊ/

  • 1

    To make a vow; to promise.

    • When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it.
    • We do not vow that we will never sin, nor neglect a duty (nor ought we to do so).
  • 2

    To make a vow regarding (something).

    • The wronged woman vowed revenge.
  • 3

    To declare publicly that one has made a vow, usually to show one's determination or to announce an act of retaliation.

    • The rebels vowed to continue their fight.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。