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Glite Dictionary
cross my heart and hope to die

cross my heart and hope to die

8.2
To promise honestly that you are telling the truth
  • idiom
  • Informal
: te lo juro
  • Oh I promise, Cross my heart and hope to die now.

Oh I promise, Cross my heart and hope to die now.

Examples

Synonyms

to swear
vscross my heart and hope to die
  • Formal
∞ 4.6

To make a serious promise, often in court

is used casually to stress truth or promise rather than as a formal oath
hand to God
vscross my heart and hope to die
  • Informal
2 8.2

Say it to promise that what you say is true

is a general promise emphasising truth without religious appeal
if I'm lying, I'm dying
vscross my heart and hope to die
  • Informal
9.9

To say firmly that what you say is true

is a neutral emphasis on truth or promise without threatening tone

Antonyms

to lie
∞ 1.3

To say something that is not true to trick someone

to break a promise
16 2.6

To fail to do what you said you would do

Surface Forms

cross my heart and hope to die main

Morphology

cross + my + heart + and + hope + to + die

The phrase is a conventional oath whose promise-meaning is ritualized and not predictable from the literal parts: 'cross' + 'heart' + 'hope' + 'die' are combined as hyperbolic ritual rather than a compositional statement. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would unlikely infer the idiomatic sense of swearing/truth‑telling without cultural or formulaic exposure, so it is opaque.

Etymology

Cross my heart and hope to die comes from a small action: people would touch their chest and make a cross over the heart while saying they would rather die than break their word. That's why it became a strong way to say 'I promise' or 'telling the truth'.