Leaping over the sword
An ancient ceremonial said to constitute a military marriage. A sword being laid down on the ground, the parties to be married joined hands, when the corporal or serjeant of the, company repeated these words:
Leap rogue, and jump whore,
And then you are married for evermore.
Whereupon the happy couple jumped hand in hand over the sword, the drum beating a ruffle; and the parties were ever after considered as man and wife.
–From the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
