Exchange vows?

Posted by Word Camel on July 02, 2003

In Reply to: Exchange vows? posted by sphinx on July 02, 2003

: what does "a couple exchanged their vows on their wedding day" mean?

When people get married they usually say a vow as part of the ceremony. The bride typically vows to "love, honour and cherish" the groom. The groom makes the same vow to the bride. They make these vows to each other or "exchange" them. Conversations are also referred to as exchanges sometimes, for example:

"After a brief exchange with the porter, he was able to transfer his belongings to the non-smoking car on the train."

This means, he and the porter literally exchanged words to the effect that they porter told him it would be alright to move to a no-smoking car on the train.