TO MAKE (or BE) SURE TO, verb. phr. (old colloquial.—To betroth; to be engaged to marry.
d. 1535. MORE, History of King Richard III. The King was SURE TO Dame Elizabeth Lucy, and her husband before God.
1608. MIDDLETON, A Trick to Catch the Old One, iii. 1. I am but newly SURE yet TO the widow.
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie, s.v. Accordailles … The betrothing or MAKING SURE of a man and woman together.
1632. R. BROME, The Northern Lasse, ii. 2. I presum’d (for so your words did intimate to me) you had BEEN SURE, as fast as faith could bind you, man and wife.
1636. DEKKER, The Wonder of a Kingdom, v. 1.
| She’s that’s MADE SURE to him, she loves not well, | |
| Her banns are ask’d here, but she weds in hell. |
SURE AS THE CREED (as EGGS, FATE, DEATH, A GUN, etc.), phr. (colloquial).—As sure as may be; of a certainty. [See EGGS and GUN for numerous quots.]
1393. GOWER, Confessio Amantis. SIKER AS THE CREDE.
1672. RAY, Proverbs, ‘Proverbial Similes.’
| As SURE as check or Exchequer pay. | |
| This was a Proverb in Q. Elizabeths time; the credit of the Exchequer beginning in and determining with her reign, saith Dr Fuller. | |
| As SURE [or as round] as a Jugglers box. | |
| As SURE as a louse in bosom. Chesh. | |
| As sure as a louse in Pomfret. Yorksh. | |
| As SURE as the coat’s on ones back. |
1703. STEELE, The Tender Husband, iii. 2. She’s distracted, AS SURE AS A GUN.
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 439.
| But SURE AS EGGS, whilst folks are sleeping, | |
| We both again should catch thee peeping. |
d. 1774. GOLDSMITH [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 188. I may mention as idioms of this age … AS SURE AS EGGS IS EGGS, handsome is as handsome does … from Goldsmith].
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 143. AS SURE AS A GUN then he is going to make a night of it.
