swear off (something)

To promise, pledge, or be determined not to do, use, eat, or imbibe something anymore. Thank you, but I don't drink. I swore off alcohol when my father was killed by a drunk driver. Jack swore off cigarettes for his New Year's resolution.

See also: off, swear

swear off (something)

to pledge to avoid or abstain from something. I've sworn off desserts. I am on a diet. No dessert for me. I've sworn off.

See also: off, swear

swear off

Pledge to renounce or give up, as in I've sworn off cigarettes. This expression was first used for abjuring liquor in the first half of the 1800s but has since been broadened to just about anything.

See also: off, swear

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

swear off

To pledge to renounce or give up something: I have sworn off cigarettes and alcohol.

See also: off, swear

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References in periodicals archive

Before you swear off guys completely, get real: You're going to go on some bad dates, get rejected (probably more than once) and go through some tough breakups.

The GL guide to getting the guy of your dreams: so you have a crush. But what next? We're taking you through from start to finish so when the time comes to approach that cutie, you'll be 100-percent ready-set-go

Don't swear off any vegetable (or other healthy food) because you think it once gave you gas.

Who ya gonna call? GasBusters. (Cover Story)

4 (4) 40 Days and 40 Nights (15) Dim comedy as Josh Hartnett tries to swear off sex for Lent.

Reviews: Box office Top 10

If, like Oprah Winfrey, mad cow disease has made you swear off hamburgers, you might be eating more fish instead.

Mercury rising: our seafood is increasingly contaminated with toxins

The whole experience could be enough to make you swear off writing forever.

From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963-1994

But before you swear off meat, poultry and fish altogether, there are a few things you should know.

Artichokes, unite! Taking the veggie route? Here's everything you should know

You could swear off them until summer, when home-grown tomatoes are in season.

TERRIFIC TOMATOES

Maybe Americans don't balance as well as we could or we should, but I don't believe that we have to swear off certain foods to maintain a healthy body weight -- whatever that is."

Off the scales

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an organization that helps people swear off drinking, one day at a time.

Dear Carol

So should you swear off grapefruit or grapefruit juice if you take them?

Just the grapefruit facts

Doesn't sound like she's going to suddenly snap out of it and swear off the juvenile delinquency act.

Does Your BFF need a one way ticket to Dumpsville?