שָׁוְא, v. שָׁהָה) [vacancy,] vanity, inanity, falsehood. שבועת ש׳ a false oath, vowing to do something impossible, opp. בִּיטּוּי. Shebu. III, 9 שבועה שאוכל … והשנייה שבועת ש׳ (if one says) ‘I swear that I will eat this loaf, (and) I swear that I will not eat it’, the former is a useless oath (or vow), the second a false oath; אכלה עבר על שבועת ש׳ וכ׳ if he eats it, he is guilty of a false oath (having sworn that he would not eat it); if he does not eat it, he is (also) guilty of a useless oath. Ib. 8 איזוהי שבועת ש׳ נשבע וכ׳ what is a vain oath of affirmation? If one swears to that which is known to be otherwise, saying of a stone column that it is gold &c.; נשבע … שאי אפשר וכ׳ if one affirms an impossibility, saying I swear that I have seen a camel fly in the air. Ib. נשבע לבטל … זו היא שבועת ש׳ וכ׳ if he swears that he will neglect a command, that he will not erect a Succah, …: that is a vain oath, on the wilful pronouncing of which he is punished with stripes &c. Ib. 21ᵃ איזוהי שבועת ש׳ … שקר נשבע וכ׳ what is a vain oath? If one swears to what is known to be otherwise; a false oath, if one swears to the opposite of the truth (e.g. ‘I have eaten’, when he has not, ‘I have not eaten’, when he has), v. שֶׁקֶר. Ib. 20ᵇ ש׳ ושקר אחד הן a vain oath (shav) and a false oath (sheḳer) are the same; a. fr.—תפלת ש׳ a vain prayer, a prayer concerning a thing which cannot be changed. Ber. IX, 3; a. fr.—Ex. R. s. 3 (ref. to מתי שוא, Job XI, 11) God knows העם המתים על הש׳ לעשותו the people that risk their lives for falsehood (idolatry) to commit it; העתידים לעשות ש׳ וכ׳ those that will commit falsehood and be put to death.—לַשָּׁ׳ in vain, to no purpose. Keth. 62ᵇ, v. שָׁמַר. Y. Meg. III, 74ᵃ bot., v. תַּמְרוּרִים.