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

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debt of honour

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 could only be done by renouncing that upon which she had set her heart; she could not work out the scheme and pay the debt of honour to Rawson-Clew.

From The Good Comrade by Anna Whelan Betts

I have endeavoured as best I could to discharge the debt of honour so nobly laid upon me; but the fair creditor has taken possession of my heart.

From The Last of the Vikings by John Bowling

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