VOW

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does vow mean? 

• VOW (noun)
  The noun VOW has 1 sense:

1. a solemn pledge (to oneself or to another or to a deity) to do something or to behave in a certain manner

  Familiarity information: VOW used as a noun is very rare.

• VOW (verb)
  The verb VOW has 2 senses:

1. make a vow; promise

2. dedicate to a deity by a vow

  Familiarity information: VOW used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VOW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A solemn pledge (to oneself or to another or to a deity) to do something or to behave in a certain manner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

they took vows of poverty

Hypernyms ("vow" is a kind of...):

assurance; pledge (a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something)

Derivation:

vow (make a vow; promise)

vow (dedicate to a deity by a vow)

• VOW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they vow    ... he / she / it vows   
Past simple: vowed   
Past participle: vowed   
-ing form: vowing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a vow; promise

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

He vowed never to drink alcohol again

Hypernyms (to "vow" is one way to...):

pledge; plight (promise solemnly and formally)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "vow"):

affiance; betroth; engage; plight (give to in marriage)

profess (take vows, as in religious order)

swear (promise solemnly; take an oath)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They vow to move

Derivation:

vow (a solemn pledge (to oneself or to another or to a deity) to do something or to behave in a certain manner)

vower (someone who makes a solemn promise to do something or behave in a certain way)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Dedicate to a deity by a vow

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

consecrate; vow

Hypernyms (to "vow" is one way to...):

commit; consecrate; dedicate; devote; give (give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

vow (a solemn pledge (to oneself or to another or to a deity) to do something or to behave in a certain manner)

 Context examples 

He made, at that moment, a solemn vow to deliver him and then looked around for the means.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“It was my vow and must be done.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins, for she vows she will not have him, and if you do not make haste he will change his mind and not have her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The king, however, still vowed that he was his son, and said, Is there no mark by which you would know me if I am really your son?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I had once vowed that I would never call her aunt again: I thought it no sin to forget and break that vow now.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

John would have me go, for he vowed he would not drive her, because she had such thick ankles.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

This did not want much of being finished, when I put it away in a pet, and vowed I would never take another likeness.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I vowed that, come what might, it should be a secret no longer.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When he breathed his vows to her, as he had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she alone had touched his heart.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)