VOUCH

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does vouch mean? 

• VOUCH (verb)
  The verb VOUCH has 4 senses:

1. give personal assurance; guarantee

2. give surety or assume responsibility

3. summon (a vouchee) into court to warrant or defend a title

4. give supporting evidence

  Familiarity information: VOUCH used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VOUCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they vouch    ... he / she / it vouches   
Past simple: vouched   
Past participle: vouched   
-ing form: vouching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give personal assurance; guarantee

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

Will he vouch for me?

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

attest; bear witness; take the stand; testify (give testimony in a court of law)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

voucher (someone who vouches for another or for the correctness of a statement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give surety or assume responsibility

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

guarantee; vouch

Context example:

I vouch for the quality of my products

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

pledge; plight (promise solemnly and formally)

Verb group:

assure; ensure; guarantee; insure; secure (make certain of)

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

bail (secure the release of (someone) by providing security)

stipulate (give a guarantee or promise of)

secure (assure payment of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

voucher (someone who vouches for another or for the correctness of a statement)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Summon (a vouchee) into court to warrant or defend a title

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

cite; summon; summons (call in an official matter, such as to attend court)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

vouchee ((law) a person called into court to defend a title)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give supporting evidence

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

He vouched his words by his deeds

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

affirm; confirm; corroborate; substantiate; support; sustain (establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“Who can vouch for this thing?” he asked.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You can vouch for it, Francis!

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My temper I dare not vouch for.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I cannot vouch for that till Mason is out of England: nor even then.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I used to boast of my own Anne Elliot, and vouch for your being a very different creature from—She checked herself just in time.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Such was the blood of gentility which Emma had formerly been so ready to vouch for!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

We all know—because science has vouched for the fact—that there have been toads shut up in rocks for thousands of years, shut in one so small hole that only hold him since the youth of the world.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor.

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

I can vouch it and so can brother Porphyry.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I can vouch to having heard your Highness tell the story.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)