Showing results for debt of honour. Search instead for Sense of humour.

debt of honour

British

noun

a debt that is morally but not legally binding, such as one contracted in gambling

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the pledge would settle a "debt of honour" to women born in the 1950s.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2019

"We have a historical debt of honour to them and when we go into government we are going to fulfil that debt," he said.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2019

Lib Dem peer Lord Ashdown has said the UK has a "debt of honour" to the 450 interpreters who have worked alongside British troops since 2001.

From BBC • May 1, 2013

It was to pay a debt of honour, for I was a gambler in those days.

From Love and hatred by Lowndes, Marie Belloc

He meant to settle that score, which, like a debt of honour, weighed upon his mind.

From Grit Lawless by Young, F.E. Mills

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023