Definition of "promise"

promise

/ˈpɹɒmɪs/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural promises
1. (countable) an oath or affirmation; a vow
2. (countable) A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his use.
  Quotations
  He purſued Andrew Houſtoun upon his promiſe, to give him the like Sallary for the next year, and in abſence obtained him to be holden as confeſt and Decerned.
  1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), pages 547–548
3. (uncountable) Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.
  Quotations
  My native country was full of youthful promise.
  1819 June 23 – 1820 September 13, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “(please specify the title)”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., New York, N.Y.: […] C. S. Van Winkle, […]
  The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
  1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess‎
4. (countable, computing, programming) A placeholder object representing the eventual result of an asynchronous operation.
5. (countable, obsolete) bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised
  Quotations
  He […] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Acts 1:4
verb
third-person singular simple present promises, present participle promising, simple past and past participle promised
1. (transitive, intransitive) To commit to (some action or outcome), or to assure (a person) of such commitment; to make an oath or vow.
  Quotations
  "You think that I'll take anything.""I know you will, sweet." [...]"There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be.""Well, there is now," she said sweetly.
  1936 Aug., Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", Cosmopolitan
  Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
  2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
2. (intransitive) To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.
  Quotations
  I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.

Definition of "promise"

promise

noun

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verb

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