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vouch

[vouch]
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verb (used without object)
  1. to support as being true, certain, reliable, etc. (usually followed by for): Her record in office vouches for her integrity.
  2. to attest; guarantee; certify (usually followed by for): to vouch for someone in a business transaction.
verb (used with object)
  1. to sustain or uphold by, or as if by, practical proof or demonstration.
  2. (formerly) to call or summon (a person) into court to make good a warranty of title.
  3. to adduce or quote in support, as extracts from a book or author; cite in warrant or justification, as authority, instances, facts, etc.
  4. Archaic. to warrant or attest; to support or authenticate with vouchers.
  5. Archaic. to declare as with warrant; vouch for.
  6. Obsolete. to call or take as a witness.
noun Obsolete.
  1. a vouching; an assertion.
  2. a formal attestation; a supporting warrant.

Origin of vouch

1275–1325; Middle English vouchen < Anglo-French, Middle French vo(u)cher, Old French avochier < Latin advocāre; see advocate
Related formsun·vouched, adjectivewell-vouched, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vouches

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • This was repeated to the writer by the mother, and he vouches for its truth.

  • He was not himself a witness of the occurrence, but vouches for the accuracy of the report.

    Welsh Folk-Lore

    Elias Owen

  • The reader his a right to know who vouches for the statements made in the text.

  • Fuller, again, it is who vouches for the sequel of the incident.

    Sir Walter Ralegh

    William Stebbing

  • Madame is also delighted, and vouches enthusiastically for Merles delight.

    Twos and Threes

    G. B. Stern

British Dictionary definitions for vouches

vouch

verb
  1. (intr usually foll by for) to give personal assurance; guaranteeI'll vouch for his safety
  2. (when tr, usually takes a clause as object; when intr, usually foll by for) to furnish supporting evidence (for) or function as proof (of)
  3. (tr) English legal history to summon (a person who had warranted title to land) to defend that title or give up land of equal value
  4. (tr) archaic to cite (authors, principles, etc) in support of something
  5. (tr) obsolete to assert
noun
  1. obsolete the act of vouching; assertion or allegation

Word Origin

C14: from Old French vocher to summon, ultimately from Latin vocāre to call
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for vouches

vouch

v.

early 14c., "summon into court to prove a title," from Anglo-French voucher, Old French vocher "to call, summon, invoke, claim," probably from Gallo-Romance *voticare, metathesis of Latin vocitare "to call to, summon insistently," frequentative of Latin vocare "to call, call upon, summon" (see voice (n.)). Meaning "guarantee to be true or accurate" is first attested 1590s. Related: Vouched; vouching.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper