vouch

English
WOTD – 17 November 2021

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English vouchen (“to call, summon; to provide; to make available, proffer; to affirm, declare formally”) [and other forms],[1] from Anglo-Norman vocher, voucher, woucher, and Old French vocher, voucher, vochier (“to call, summon; to claim; to call upon, invoke; to denounce”) [and other forms], from Vulgar Latin *vocicāre, derived from Latin vocāre (“to call, summon; to call upon, invoke; to designate, name; to bring or put (into a condition or state”),[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to sound out; to speak”).

Verb sense 8.1 (“to summon (someone) into court to establish a warranty of title to land”) in the form vouch to warrant or vouch to warranty is a calque of Anglo-Norman and Old French voucher a garant.[2]

The noun is derived from the verb.[3]

Pronunciation

Verb

vouch (third-person singular simple present vouches, present participle vouching, simple past and past participle vouched)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To call on (someone) to be a witness to something.
    2. To cite or rely on (an authority, a written work, etc.) in support of one's actions or opinions.
      Synonym: (archaic) obtest
      • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Experience whiche haue Preceded Our Tyme, with a Defence of Histories”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 283:
        But the most catholike and renoumed doctours of Christes religion in the corroboration of their argumentes and sentences, do alledge the same histories and vouche (as I mought say) to their ayde the autoritie of the writars.
      • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the First, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 19, page 545, column 2:
        [F]or more credit to vvhich aſſertion hee vouched ſundry books, and acts, […]
      • 1692 June 30 (Gregorian calendar), Philanthropus [pseudonym; John Locke], “On the Usefulness of Force in Matters of Religion”, in A Third Letter for Toleration, […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 219:
        Pray tell us where your moderate (for great ones you acknowledg to do harm, and to be uſeleſs) Penalties have been uſed, with ſuch Succeſs, that we may be paſt doubt too. If you can ſhew no ſuch place, do you not vouch Experience where you have none?
    3. To affirm or warrant the correctness or truth of (something); also, to affirm or warrant (the truth of an assertion or statement).
      Synonyms: attest, avouch, certify
      • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 232, column 1:
        Nay tis moſt credible, we heere receiue it,
        A certaintie vouch'd from our Coſin Auſtria, […]
      • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 29, column 1:
        Deliuer them this Paper: hauing read it,
        Bid them repayre to th' Market place, where I
        Euen in theirs, and in the Commons eares
        Will vouch the truth of it.
      • 1705 November 8 (Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Standing Revelation, the Best Means of Conviction. A Sermon Preach’d before Her Majesty, at St. James’s Chapel, on Sunday, October 28. 1705, being the Festival of St. Simon and St. Jude.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 343:
        [T]hey have made him aſham'd firſt to Vouch the Truth of the Relation, and afterwards even to Credit it.
      • 1877 September 14, Robert Browning, “La Saisiaz”, in La Saisiaz: The Two Poets of Croisic, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, page 13:
        Hold it fast and guard it well!
        Go and see and vouch for certain, then come back and never tell
        Living soul but us; and haply, prove our sky from cloud as clear,
        There may we four meet, praise fortune just as now, another year!
    4. To bear witness or testify to the nature or qualities (of someone or something).
      • 1685 March 4 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at the Westminster-Abbey, February 22. 1684–5 [Julian calendar]”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volume I, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC, pages 318–319:
        If a Man ſucceeds in any Attempt, though undertook with never ſo much Folly and Raſhneſs, his Succeſs ſhall vouch him a Politician; and good Luck ſhall paſs for deep Contrivance: […]
    5. To back, confirm, or support (someone or something) with credible evidence or proof.
    6. (archaic) Synonym of vouchsafe (“to condescendingly or graciously give or grant (something)”)
    7. (archaic or obsolete) To assert, aver, or declare (something).
      • 1662 November 19 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul’s, November the 9th, 1662 [Julian calendar]”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volume I, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC, page 48:
        But wherein then according to their Opinion did this Image of God conſiſt? Why, in that Power and Dominion that God gave Adam over the Creatures: In that he was vouched his immediate Deputy upon Earth, the Viceroy of the Creation, and Lord-Lieutenant of the World.
      • 1817 December (indicated as 1818), Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, “Canto Ninth”, in Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century. […], London: […] [F]or Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, […]; and C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B. M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXI, page 208:
        [W]hat we have done
        None shall dare vouch, tho' it be truly known; […]
    8. (law)
      1. In full vouch to warrant or vouch to warranty: to summon (someone) into court to establish a warranty of title to land.
      2. Followed by over: of a vouchee (a person summoned to court to establish a warranty of title): to summon (someone) to court in their place.
        • 1766, William Blackstone, “Of Alienation by Matter of Record”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 359:
          [I]t is now uſual always to have a recovery with double voucher at the leaſt; by firſt conveying an eſtate of freehold to any indifferent perſon, againſt whom the praecipe is brought; and then he vouches the tenant in tail, who vouches over the common vouchee.
      3. (obsolete) To guarantee legal title (to something).
  2. (intransitive) Often followed by for.
    1. To bear witness or testify; to guarantee or sponsor.
      I can vouch that he wasn’t at the scene of the crime.
    2. To provide evidence or proof.
    3. To express confidence in or take responsibility for (the correctness or truth of) something.

Derived terms

Translations
synonym of vouchsafe — see vouchsafe
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

vouch (plural vouches)

  1. (archaic or obsolete) An assertion, a declaration; also, a formal attestation or warrant of the correctness or truth of something.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 70, column 1:
      VVho will beleeue thee Iſabell?
      My vnſoild name, th' auſteereneſſe of my life,
      My vouch againſt you, and my place i'th State,
      VVill ſo your accuſation ouer-vveigh,
      That you ſhall ſtifle in your ovvne report,
      And ſmell of calumnie.

References
  1. “vǒuchen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. “vouch, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “vouch, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. “vouch, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
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