simple vow

American  

noun

Roman Catholic Church.

1. a public vow taken by a religious, under which property may be retained and marriage, though held to be illicit, is valid under canon law.

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Etymology

Origin of simple vow

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

It might help if all public actors, from leaders and investigators to journalists and voters, made a simple vow to make it a little better, not a little worse.

From The Wall Street Journal

And the murmur lasted longer than a simple vow would have.

From Literature

But now he had ended his relationship with the former tennis world number one, he made the simple vow to immerse himself in his golf.

From BBC

Patients he has saved can vividly recall the surge of hope they felt when Najarian gave them his simple vow: "I can do it."

From Time Magazine Archive

Amongst the Women, there are those we call Nuns, that make solemn Vows of perpetual Chastity; There are others who make but a simple Vow, as for five or ten Years, or 75 more or less; and that time expir’d, they may contract anew for longer time, or marry, or dispose of themselves as they shall see good; and these are ordinarily call’d Galloping Nuns: Of these there are several Orders; as Canonesses, Begines, Quests, Swart-Sisters, and Jesuitesses, with several others I have forgot.

From Project Gutenberg