‘Where were you on the night of the murder?’ ‘In bed with flu. My wife can vouch for that.’vouchvouch /vaʊtʃ/ verb 
I’ll vouch for the quality of the report. I read it last night. ‘Where were you on the night of the murder?’ ‘In bed with flu. My wife can vouch for that.’2to say that you believe that someone will behave well and that you will be responsible for their behaviour, actions etc: Why don’t you phone my office? They’ll vouch for me.
WORD ORIGINvouch
Origin:
1300-1400 Old French vocher ‘to state, call as a witness’, from Latin vocare; ➔ VOCATIONVERB TABLE
vouch
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | vouch |
| he, she, it | vouches | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | vouched |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have vouched |
| he, she, it | has vouched | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had vouched |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will vouch |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have vouched |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am vouching |
| he, she, it | is vouching | |
| you, we, they | are vouching | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was vouching |
| you, we, they | were vouching | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been vouching |
| he, she, it | has been vouching | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been vouching |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be vouching |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been vouching |
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- Claims that verge on the outrageous are made for this material - but very many fishkeepers will vouch for its effectiveness.
- I can not vouch for this.
- It's now up to the country of origin to vouch for the health of the animals.
- My wife can vouch for that, officers.
- Rastani and I can vouch for each other.
- The explosive used is of my own formulation, and I can vouch for its efficiency.
- The twenty workers who build his houses have been taken on because Les knows them personally and can vouch for their reliability.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY ‘Where were you on the night of the murder?’ ‘In bed with flu. My wife can vouch for that.’
vouch for somebody/something phrasal verb1to say that you firmly believe that something is true or good because of your experience or knowledge of it: ‘Where were you on the night of the murder?’ ‘In bed with flu. My wife can vouch for that.’ I’ll vouch for the quality of the report. I read it last night. ‘Where were you on the night of the murder?’ ‘In bed with flu. My wife can vouch for that.’2to say that you believe that someone will behave well and that you will be responsible for their behaviour, actions etc: Why don’t you phone my office? They’ll vouch for me.