oathlet

Noun

oathlet (plural oathlets)

1. (dated) A minced oath.
   • The visitors were prepared with a meek, uncomplaining, expected fourpenny fee to the janitor; no murmur, no half-vented oathlet at a verger, no smothered blessing—in italics—of the dean and chapter, but the hush-money was held out with a perfect quiet, as though it was indeed hushed by the...1847, Thomas Campbell, Samuel Carter Hall, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, New Monthly Magazine - Volume 79, page 162
   • cock and pie: an obsolete oathlet, in which "cock" may be a corruption of God, and "pie" the Romish mass-book; but the reference may be merely to a cock and a magpie, which were coupled on tavern signs.1901, Richard Grant White, Histories and poems, page 275
2. (nonce-word) A pledge or promise that does not carry the full level of commitment of an oath.
   • At his restoration "fat Louis" was fully and sympathetically aware of his subjects' need to let bygones be bygones. The elderly M. de Barentin was stumblingly explaining to Louis how it was that he had not — strictly speaking —in actual fact — sworn an oath of allegiance to Napoleon Bonaparte. “I...2000, Clifton Fadiman, Andre Bernard, Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes