SWAB'BER, noun One that uses a swab to clean a floor or deck; on board of ships of war, an inferior officer, whose business is to see that the ship is kept clean.

SWAD, noun A pod, as of beans or peas. [Local.]

1. A short fat person.

2. In New England, a lump, mass or bunch, also, a crowd. [Vulgar.]

SWAD'DLE, verb transitive

1. To swathe; to bind, as with a bandage; to bind tight with clothes; used generally of infants; as, to swaddle a child.

They swaddled me in my night-gown.

2. To bat; to cudgel. [Low and not in use.]

SWAD'DLE, noun Clothes bound tight around the body.

They put me in bed in all my swaddles.

SWAD'DLED, participle passive Swathed; bound in tight clothes.

SWAD'DLING, participle present tense Swathing; binding in tight clothes.

SWAG, verb intransitive To sink down by its weight; to lean.

SWAG'-BELLIED, adjective Having a prominent overhanging belly.

SWAGE, verb transitive [probably allied to swag and weak; from falling or throwing down.] To ease; to soften; to mitigate.

Apt words have power to swage

The tumors of a troubled mind.

[See Assuage, which is the word now used.]

SWAG'GER, verb intransitive To bluster; to bully; to boast or brag noisily; to be tumultuously proud.

What a pleasure it is to swagger at the bar.

To be great is not to swagger at our footmen.

SWAG'GERER, noun A blusterer; a bully; a boastful noisy fellow.

SWAG'GERING, participle present tense Blustering; boasting noisily.

SWAG'GING, participle present tense Sinking or inclining.

SWAG'GY, adjective [from swag.] Sinking, hanging or leaning by its weight.

SWAIN, noun

1. A young man.

2. A country servant employed in husbandry.

3. A pastoral youth. [It is used chiefly in this sense, and in poetry.]

Blest swains! whose nymphs in every grace excel.

SWA'INISH, adjective Rustic.

SWA'INMOTE

SWAIRTH, noun An apparition. [Not used in New England.

SWAIRTH, n. An apparition. [Not used in New England.

SWALE, noun [probably from vale.] A local word in New England, signifying an interval or vale; a tract of low land.

1. In England, a shade.

SWALE, verb intransitive To waste. [See Sweal.]

SWALE, verb transitive To dress a hog for bacon, by singeing or burning off his hair. [Local.]

SWAL'LET, noun [See Well.] Among the tin miners, water breaking in upon the miners at their work.

SWAL'LOW, noun A bird of the genus Hirundo, of many species, among which are the chimney swallow and the martin.

SWAL'LOWED, participle passive Taken into the stomach; absorbed; received without scruple; engrossed; wasted; exhausted.

SWAL'LOWER, noun One who swallows; also, a glutton.

SWAL'LOWING, participle present tense Taking into the stomach; absorbing; ingulfing; receiving implicitly; engrossing; wasting; exhausting.

SWAL'LOWING, noun The act of taking into the stomach or of absorbing; the act of receiving implicitly; the act of engrossing.

SWAM, preterit tense of swim.

SWAMP, noun Spungy land; low ground filled with water; soft wet ground. In New England, I believe this word is never applied to marsh, or the boggy land made by the overflowing of salt water, but always to low soft ground in the interior country; wet and spungy land, but not usually covered with water. This is the true meaning of the word. Swamps are often mowed. In England, the word is explained in books by boggy land, morassy or marshy ground.

SWAMP, verb transitive To plunge, whelm or sink in a swamp; to plunge into difficulties inextricable.

SWAMP'Y, adjective Consisting of swamp; like a swamp; low, wet and spungy; as swampy land.

SWAN, noun A large aquatic fowl of the genus Anas, of two varieties, the wild and the tame. The plumage is of a pure white color, and its long arching neck gives it a noble appearance.

SWANG, noun A piece of low land or green sward, liable to be covered with water. [Local in England.]

SWAN'IMOTE, noun [swain and mote, meeting.] In England, a court held before the verderors of the forest as judges, by the steward of the court, thrice every year; the swains or freeholders within the forest composing the jury. Its principal jurisdiction is to inquire into the oppressions and grievances committed by the officers of the forest. It receives and tries also presentments certified from the court of attachments against offenses in vert and venison. This court is incident to a forest, as a court of piepoudre is to a fair.

SWANSDOWN, noun A fine soft thick woolen cloth.

SWAN'SKIN, noun [swan and skin.] A species of flannel of a soft texture, thick and warm.

SWAP, adverb Hastily; at a snatch. [A low word and local.]

SWAP, verb transitive To exchange; to barter; to swop. [See Swop.] [This word is not elegant, but common in colloquial language in America.]

SWAPE, noun A pole supported by a fulcrum on which it turns, used for raising water from a well, for churning, etc. [This Bailey spells swipe, and in noun England it is pronounced sweep, as in well-sweep.]

SWARD, noun

1. The skin of bacon. [Local.]

2. The grassy surface of land; turf; that part of the soil which is filled with the roots of grass, forming a kind of mat. When covered with green grass, it is called green sward

SWARD, verb transitive To produce sward; to cover with sward

SWARD'-CUTTER, noun An instrument for cutting sward across the ridges.

SWARD'Y, adjective Covered with sward or grass; as swardy land.

SWARE, old preterit tense of swear. We now use swore.

SWARE

SWARM, noun sworm. [Latin ferveo, and boiling is very expressive of the motions of a swarm of bees. See the Verb.]

1. In a general sense, a large number or body of small animals or insects, particularly when in motion; but appropriately, a great number of honey bees which emigrate from a hive at once, and seek new lodgings under the direction of a queen; or a like body of bees united and settled permanently in a hive. The bees that leave a hive in spring, are the young bees produced in the year preceding. Exodus 8:24. Judges 14:8.

2. A swarm or multitude; particularly, a multitude of people in motion. Swarms of northern nations overran the south of Europe in the fifth century.

Note.--The application of this word to inanimate things, as swarms of advantages, by Shakespeare, and swarms of themes, by Young, is not legitimate, for the essence of the word is motion.

SWARM, verb intransitive sworm.

1. To collect and depart from a hive by flight in a body, as bees. Bees swarm in warm, clear days in summer.

2. To appear or collect in a crowd; to run; to throng together; to congregate in a multitude.

In crowds around the swarming people join.

3. To be crowded; to be thronged with a multitude of animals in motion. The forests in America often swarm with wild pigeons. The northern seas in spring swarm with herrings.

Every place swarms with soldiers.

[Such phrases as 'life swarms with ills, ' 'those days swarmed with fables, ' are not legitimate, or wholly obsolete.

4. To breed multitudes.

5. To climb, as a tree, by embracing it with the arms and legs, and scrambling.

At the top was placed a piece of money, as a prize for those who could swarm up and seize it.

Note.--This, by the common people in New England, is pronounced squirm or squurm, and it is evidently formed on worm, indicating that worm and warm, on which swarm and squirm are formed, are radically the same word. The primary sense is to bend, wind, twist, as a worm, or a swarm of bees. It may be formed on the foot of veer, vary.

SWARM, verb transitive To crowd or throng. [Not in use.]

SWART, swort

SWARTH, sworth, adjective

1. Being of a dark hue; moderately black; tawny.

A nation strange with visage swart.

[I believe swart and swarth are never used in the United States, certainly not in New England. Swarthy is a common word.]

2. Gloomy; malignant. [Not in use.]

SWART, verb transitive To make tawny.

SWARTH

SWARTH'ILY, adverb [from swarthy.] Duskily; with a tawny hue.

SWARTH'INESS, noun Tawniness; a dusky or dark complexion.

SWARTH'Y, adjective [See Swart.] Being of a dark hue or dusky complexion; tawny. In warm climates, the complexion of men is universally swarthy or black. The Moors, Spaniards and Italians are more swarthy than the French, Germans and English.

Their swarthy hosts would darken all our plains.

1. Black; as the swarthy African.

SWART'INESS, noun A tawny color.

SWART'ISH, adjective Somewhat dark or tawny.

SWART'Y, adjective Swarthy; tawny.

SWARVE, verb intransitive To swerve. [Not in use.]

SWASH, noun An oval figure, whose moldings are oblique to the axis of the work. [A cant word.]

SWASH, noun A blustering noise; a vaporing. [Not in use or vulgar.]

1. Impulse of water flowing with violence. In the southern states of America, swash or swosh is a name given to a narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between that and the shore. Many such are found on the shores of the Carolinas.

SWASH, verb intransitive To bluster; to make a great noise; to vapor or brag. [Not in use.]

SWASH

SWASH'ER, noun One who makes a blustering show of valor or force of arms. [Not in use.]

SWASH'Y, adjective Soft, like fruit too ripe. [Local.]

SWASH'-BUCKLER, noun A sword-player; a bully or braggadocio. [Not in use.]

SWAT

SWATCH, noun A swath. [Not in use.]

SWATCH, n. A swath. [Not in use.]

SWATE, verb intransitive To sweat.

SWATH, noun swoth.

1. A line of grass or grain cut and thrown together by the sythe in mowing or cradling.

2. The whole breadth or sweep of a sythe in mowing or cradling; as a wide swath

3. A band or fillet. They wrapped me in a hundred yards of swath

SWATHE, verb transitive To bind with a band, bandage or rollers; as, to swathe a child.

1. To bind or wrap.

Their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when first born.

SWAY, verb transitive

1. To move or wave; to wield with the hand; as, to sway the scepter.

2. To bias; to cause to lean or incline to one side. Let not temporal advantages sway you from the line of duty. The king was swayed by his council from the course he intended to pursue.

As bowls run true by being made

On purpose false, and to be sway'd.

3. To rule; to govern; to influence or direct by power and authority, or by moral force.

This was the race

To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.

She could not sway her house.

Take heed lest passion sway

Thy judgment to do aught which else free will

Would not admit.

SWAY, verb intransitive To be drawn to one side by weight; to lean. A wall sways to the west.

The balance sways on our part.

[This sense seems to indicate that this word and swag, are radically one.]

1. To have weight or influence.

The example of sundry churches--doth sway much.

2. To bear rule; to govern.

Had'st thou sway'd as kings should do--

3. In seamen's language, to hoist, particularly applied to the lower yards and to the topmast yards, etc.

SWAY, noun The swing or sweep of a weapon.

To strike with huge two-handed sway

1. Any thing moving with bulk and power.

Are not you mov'd when all the sway of earth.

Shakes like a thing unfirm?

2. Preponderation; turn or cast of balance.

--Expert

When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway of battle.

3. Power exerted in governing; rule; dominion; control.

When vice prevails and impious men bear sway

The post of honor is a private station.

4. Influence; weight or authority that inclines to one side; as the sway of desires. All the world is subject to the sway of fashion.

SWA'YED, participle passive Wielded; inclined to one side; ruled; governed; influenced; biased.

SWA'YING, participle present tense Wielding; causing to lean; biasing; ruling.

SWA'YING, noun swaying of the back, among beasts, is a kind of lumbago, caused by a fall or by being overloaded.

SWEAL, verb intransitive

1. To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; to waste away without feeding the flame.

2. To blaze away.

SWE'ALING, participle present tense Melting and wasting away.

SWEAR, verb intransitive preterit tense swore. [Eng. veer; Latin assevero.]

1. To affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed.

Ye shall not swear by my name falsely. Leviticus 19:12.

But I say unto you, swear not at all. Matthew 5:34.

2. To promise upon oath.

Jacob said, swear to me this day; and he swore to him. Genesis 25:33.

3. To give evidence an oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement. He swore that the prisoner was not present at the riot.

4. To be profane; to practice profaneness.

Certain classes of men are accustomed to swear For men to swear is sinful, disreputable and odious; but for females or ladies to swear appears more abominable and scandalous.

SWEAR, verb transitive To utter or affirm with a solemn appeal to God for the truth of the declaration; as, to swear on oath. [This seems to have been the primitive use of swear; that is, to affirm.]

1. To put to an oath; to cause to take an oath; as, to swear witnesses in court; to swear a jury; the witness has been sworn; the judges are sworn into office.

2. To declare or charge upon oath; as, to swear treason against a man.

3. To obtest by an oath.

Now by Apollo, king, thou swear'st thy gods in vain.

To swear the peace against one, to make oath that one is under the actual fear of death or bodily harm from the person; in which case the person must find sureties of the peace.

SWEARER, noun One who swears; one who calls God to witness for the truth of his declaration.

1. A profane person.

Then the liars and swearers are fools.

SWEARING, participle present tense Affirming upon oath; uttering a declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of it.

1. Putting upon oath; causing to swear.

SWEARING, noun The act or practice of affirming on oath. swearing in court is lawful.

1. Profaneness. All swearing not required by some law, or in conformity with law, is criminal. False swearing or perjury is a crime of a deep dye.

SWEAT, noun swet. [Latin sudor.]

1. The fluid or sensible moisture which issues out of the pores of the skin of an animal.

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Genesis 3:19.

2. Labor; toil; drudgery.

3. Moisture evacuated from any substance; as the sweat of hay or grain in a mow or stack.

SWEAT, verb intransitive swet. preterit tense and participle passive sweat or sweated. Swot is obsolete. [Latin sudo.]

1. To emit sensible moisture through the pores of the skin; to perspire. Horses sweat; oxen sweat little or not at all.]

2. To toil; to labor; to drudge.

He'd have the poets sweat

3. To emit moisture, as green plants in a heap.

SWEAT, verb transitive swet. To emit or suffer to flow from the pores; to exsude.

For him the rich Arabia sweats her gums.

1. To cause to emit moisture from the pores of the skin. His physicians attempted to sweat him by the most powerful sudorifics.

They sweat him profusely.

SWEAT'ER, noun One that causes to sweat.

SWEAT'INESS, noun The state of being sweaty or moist with sweat.

SWEAT'ING, participle present tense Emitting moisture from the pores of the skin; throwing our moisture; exuding.

1. Causing to emit moisture upon the skin.

SWEAT'Y, adjective Moist with sweat; as a sweaty skin; a sweaty garment.

1. Consisting of sweat.

No noisy whiffs or sweaty streams.

2. Laborious; toilsome; as the sweaty forge.

SWEDE, noun A native of Sweden.

1. A Swedish turnep.

SWE'DISH, adjective Pertaining to Sweden.

SWEEP, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive swept.

1. To brush or rub over with a brush, broom or besom, for removing loose dirt; to clean by brushing; as, to sweep a chimney or a floor. When we say, to sweep a room, we mean, to sweep the floor of the room; and to sweep the house, is to sweep the floors of the house.

2. To carry with a long swinging or dragging motion; to carry with pomp.

And like a peacock, sweep along his tail.

3. To drive or carry along or off by a long brushing stroke or force, or by flowing on the earth. Thus the wind sweeps the snow from the tops of the hills; a river sweeps away a dam, timber or rubbish; a flood sweeps away a bridge or a house. Hence,

4. To drive, destroy or carry off many at a stroke, or with celerity and violence; as, a pestilence sweeps off multitudes in a few days. The conflagration swept away whole streets of houses.

I have already swept the stakes.

5. To rub over.

Their long descending train,

With rubies edg'd and sapphires, swept the plain.

6. To strike with a long stroke.

Wake into voice each silent string,

And sweep the sounding lyre.

7. To draw or drag over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net, or with the bight of a rope, to hook an anchor.

SWEEP, verb intransitive To pass with swiftness and violence, as something broad or brushing the surface of any thing; as a sweeping rain; a sweeping flood. A fowl that flies near the surface of land or water, is said to sweep along near the surface.

1. To pass over or brush along with celerity and force; as, the wind sweeps along the plain.

2. To pass with pomp; as, a person sweeps along with a trail.

She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies.

3. To move with a long reach; as a sweeping stroke.

SWEEP, noun The act of sweeping.

1. The compass of a stroke; as a long sweep

2. The compass of any turning body or motion; as the sweep of a door.

3. The compass of any thing flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away every thing within its sweep

4. Violent and general destruction; as the sweep of an epidemic disease.

5. Direction of any motion not rectilinear; as the sweep of a compass.

6. The mold of a ship when she begins to compass in, at the rung heads; also, any part of a ship shaped by the segment of a circle; as a floor-sweep; a back-sweep, etc.

7. Among refiners of metals, the almost-furnace.

8. Among seamen, a large oar, used to assist the rudder in turning a ship in a calm, or to increase her velocity in a chase, etc.

SWEEP of the tiller, a circular frame on which the tiller traverses in large ships.

SWEE'PER, noun One that sweeps.

SWEE'PING, participle present tense Brushing over; rubbing with a broom or besom; cleaning with a broom or besom; brushing along; passing over; dragging over.

SWEE'PINGS, noun plural Things collected by sweeping; rubbish. The sweepings of streets are often used as manure.

SWEE'PSTAKE, noun [sweep and stake.] A man that wins all; usually sweepstakes.

SWEE'PY, adjective Passing with speed and violence over a great compass at once.

The branches bend before their sweepy sway.

1. Strutting.

2. Wavy.

SWEET, adjective [Latin suavis.]

1. Agreeable or grateful to the taste; as, sugar or honey is sweet

2. Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; as a sweet rose; sweet odor; sweet incense. Exodus 26:1.

3. Pleasing to the ear; soft; melodious; harmonious; as the sweet notes of a flute or an organ; sweet music; a sweet voice.

4. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; as a sweet face; a sweet color or complexion; a sweet form.

5. Fresh; not salt; as sweet water.

6. Not sour; as sweet fruits; sweet oranges.

7. Mild; soft; gentle.

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?

Job 38:31.

8. Mild; soft; kind; obliging; as sweet manners.

9. Grateful; pleasing.

SWEET interchange of hill and valley.

10. Making soft or excellent music; as a sweet singer.

11. Not stale; as sweet butter. The bread is sweet

12. Not turned; not sour; as sweet milk.

13. Not putrescent or putrid; as, the meat is sweet

SWEET, noun Something pleasing or grateful to the mind; as the sweets of domestic life.

A little bitter mingled in our cup, leaves no relish of the sweet

1. A sweet substance; particularly, any vegetable juice which is added to wines to improve them.

2. A perfume.

3. A word of endearment.

4. Cane juice, melasses, or other sweet vegetable substance.

SWEETEN, verb transitive swee'tn. To make sweet; as, to sweeten tea or coffee.

1. To make pleasing or grateful to the mind; as, to sweeten life; to sweeten friendship.

2. To make mild or kind; as, to sweeten the temper.

3. To make less painful; as, to sweeten the cares of life.

4. To increase agreeable qualities; as, to sweeten the joys or pleasures of life.

5. To soften; to make delicate.

Corregio has made his name immortal by the strength he has given to his figures, and by sweetening his lights and shades.

6. To make pure and salubrious by destroying noxious matter; as, to sweeten rooms or apartments that have been infected; to sweeten the air.

7. To make warm and fertile; as, to dry and sweeten soils.

8. To restore to purity; as, to sweeten water, butter or meat.

SWEETEN, verb intransitive swee'tn. To become sweet.

SWEE'TENED, participle passive Made sweet, mild or grateful.

SWEE'TENER, noun He or that which sweetens; he that palliates; that which moderates acrimony.

SWEE'TENING, participle present tense Making sweet or grateful.

SWEE'TING, noun A sweet apple.

1. A word of endearment.

SWEE'TISH, adjective Somewhat sweet or grateful to the taste.

SWEE'TISHNESS, noun The quality of being sweetish.

SWEE'TLY, adverb In a sweet manner; gratefully; agreeable.

He sweetly temper'd awe.

No poet ever sweetly sung,

Unless he was, like Phoebus, young.

SWEE'TMEAT, noun [sweet and meat.] Fruit preserved with sugar; as peaches, pears, melons, nuts, orange peel, and the like.

SWEE'TNESS, noun The quality of being sweet, in any of its senses; as gratefulness to the taste; or to the smell, fragrance; agreeableness to the ear, melody; as sweetness of the voice; sweetness of elocution.

1. Agreeableness of manners; softness; mildness; obliging civility; as sweetness of behavior.

2. Softness; mildness; amiableness; as sweetness of temper.

SWE'INMOTE

SWELL, verb intransitive preterit tense swelled; participle passive swelled. Swollen is nearly obsolete..

1. To grow larger; to dilate or extend the exterior surface or dimensions by matter added to the interior part, or by expansion of the inclosed substance. Thus the legs swell in dropsy; a bruised part swells; a tumor swells; a bladder swells by inflation.

2. To increase in size or extent by any addition; as, a river swells and overflows its banks.

3. To rise or be driven into waves or billows. In a tempest, the ocean swells into waves mountain high.

4. To be puffed up or bloated; as, to swell with pride.

5. To be gloated with anger; to be exasperated. He swells with rage.

6. To be inflated; to belly; as swelling sails.

7. To be turgid or bombastic; as swelling words; a swelling style.

8. To protuberate; to bulge out; as, a cask swells in the middle.

9. To be elated; to rise into arrogance.

Your equal mind yet swells not into state.

10. To grow more violent; as, a moderate passion may swell to fury.

11. To grow upon the view; to become larger.

--And monarachs to be hold the swelling scene.

12. To become larger in amount. Many little debts added, swell to a great amount.

13. To become louder; as, a sound gradually swells as it approaches.

14. To strut; to look big.

--Swelling like a turkey cock.

15. To rise in altitude; as, land swells into hills.

SWELL, verb transitive To increase the size, bulk or dimensions of; to cause to rise, dilate or increase. Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring, and cause floods. Jordan is swelled by the snows of mount Libanus.

1. To aggravate; to highten.

It is low ebb with the accuser, when such peccadillos are put to swell the charge.

2. To raise to arrogance; as, to be swelled with pride or haughtiness.

3. To enlarge. These sums swell the amount of taxes to a fearful size. These victories served to swell the fame of the commander.

4. In music, to augment, as the sound of a note.

SWELL, noun Extension of bulk.

1. Increase, as sound; as the swell of a note.

2. A gradual ascent or elevation of land; as an extensive plain abounding with little swells.

3. A wave or billow; more generally, a succession of large waves; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor. Swell is also used to denote the waves or fluctuation of the sea after a storm, and the waves that roll in and break upon the shore.

4. In an organ, a certain number of pipes inclosed in a box, which being uncovered, produce a swell of sound.

SWELL, v.i. pret. swelled; pp. swelled. Swollen is nearly obsolete..

10. To grow more violent; as, a moderate passion may swell to fury.

11. To grow upon the view; to become larger.

12. To become larger in amount. Many little debts added, swell to a great amount.

13. To become louder; as, a sound gradually swells as it approaches.

14. To strut; to look big.

15. To rise in altitude; as, land swells into hills.

SWELL, v.t. To increase the size, bulk or dimensions of; to cause to rise, dilate or increase. Rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring, and cause floods. Jordan is swelled by the snows of mount Libanus.

SWELL, n. Extension of bulk.

SWELL'ED, participle passive Enlarged in bulk; inflated; tumefied.

SWELL'ING, participle present tense Growing or enlarging in its dimensions; growing tumid; inflating; growing tumid; inflating; growing or making louder.

SWELL'ING, noun A tumor, or any morbid enlargement of the natural size; as a swelling on the hand or leg.

1. Protuberance; prominence.

The superficies of such plates are not even, but have many cavities and swellings.

2. A rising or enlargement by passion; as the swellings of anger, grief or pride.

SWELT, for swelled, is not in use.

SWELT, verb intransitive To faint; to swoon.

SWELT, verb transitive To overpower, as with heat; to cause to faint. [We now use swelter.]

SWELT'ER, verb intransitive [from swelt.] To be overcome and faint with heat; to be ready to perish with heat.

SWELT'ER, verb transitive To oppress with heat.

SWELT'ERED, participle passive Oppressed with heat.

SWELT'ERING, participle present tense Fainting or languishing with heat; oppressing with heat.

SWELT'RY, adjective Suffocating with heat; oppressive with heat; sultry. [See Sultry, which is probably a contraction of sweltry ]

SWEPT, preterit tense and participle passive of sweep.

SWERD, for sward, is not in use.

SWERVE, verb intransitive swerv.

1. To wander; to rove.

The swerving vines on the tall elms prevail.

2. To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule of duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty or custom; to deviate.

I swerve not from thy commandments.

They swerve from the strict letter of the law.

Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion--

3. To bend; to incline.

4. To climb or move forward by winding or turning.

The tree was high,

Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerv'd.

[This use of the word coincides with that of swarm, which see.]

SWERV'ING, participle present tense Roving; wandering; deviating from any rule or standard; inclining; climbing or moving by winding and turning.

SWERV'ING, noun The act of wandering; deviation from any rule, law, duty or standard.

SWIFT, adjective

1. Moving a great distance or over a large space in a short time; moving with celerity or velocity; fleet; rapid; quick; speedy. We say, soft winds, a swift stream, swift lightnings, swift motion, swift as thought, a fowl swift of wing, a man swift of foot. swift is applicable to any kind of motion.

2. Ready; prompt.

Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. James 1:19.

3. Speedy; that comes without delay.

There shall be false teachers among you, who shall privily bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1.

SWIFT, noun The current of a stream. [Little used.]

1. In domestic affairs, a reel or turning instrument for winding yarn. [This is a sense directly from the Saxon verb.]

2. A bird, a species of swallow, so called from the rapidity of its flight.

3. The common newt or eft, a species of lizard.

SWIFT'ER, noun In a ship, a rope used to confine the bars of the capstan in their sockets, while men are turning it; also, a rope used to encircle a boat longitudinally, to strengthen and defend her sides from the impulse of other boats. Swifters also are two shrouds fixed on the starboard and larboard sides of the lower masts, above all the other shrouds, to give the masts additional security.

SWIFT'ER, verb transitive To stretch, as shrouds by tackles.

SWIFT'LY, adverb Fleetly; rapidly; with celerity; with quick motion or velocity.

Pleas'd with the passage, we slide swiftly on.

SWIFT'NESS, noun Speed; rapid motion; quickness; celerity; velocity; rapidity. swiftness is a word of general import, applicable to every kind of motion, and to every thing that moves; as the swiftness of a bird; the swiftness of a stream; swiftness of descent in a falling body; swiftness of thought, etc.

SWIG, verb transitive or i. To drink by large draughts; to suck greedily.

SWIG, noun A large draught. [Vulgar.]

1. In seamen's language, a pulley with ropes which are not parallel.

SWIG, verb transitive To castrate, as a ram, by binding the testicles tight with a string. [Local.]

SWILL, verb transitive

1. To drink grossly or greedily; as, to swill down great quantities of liquors.

2. To wash; to drench.

3. To inebriate; to swell with fullness.

I should be loth

To meet the rudeness and swill'd insolence

Of such late wassailers.

SWILL, noun Large draughts of liquor; or drink taken in excessive quantities.

1. The wash or mixture of liquid substances, given to swine; called in some places swillings.

SWILL'ED, participle passive Swallowed grossly in large quantities.

SWILL'ER, noun One who drinks voraciously.

SWILL'ING, participle present tense Swallowing excessive quantities of liquors.

SWILL'INGS, noun Swill.

SWIM, verb intransitive

1. To float; to be supported on water or other fluid; not to sink. Most species of wood will swim in water. Any substance will swim whose specific gravity is less than that of the fluid in which it is immersed.

2. To move progressively in water by means of the motion of the hands and feet, or of fins. In Paris, boys are taught to swim by instructors appointed for that purpose. Isaiah 25:11.

Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point.

3. To float; to be borne along by a current. In all states there are men who will swim with the tide of popular opinion.

4. To glide along with a smooth motion, or with a waving motion.

She with pretty and with swimming gait.

A hov'ring mist came swimming o'er his sight.

5. To be dizzy or vertiginous; to have a waving motion of the head or a sensation of that kind, or a reeling of the body. The head swims when we walk on high.

6. To be floated; to be overflowed or drenched; as, the earth swims in rain.

Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim

All the night I make my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Psalms 6:6.

7. To overflow; to abound; to have abundance.

They now swim in joy.

SWIM, verb transitive To pass or move on; as, to swim a stream. Deer are known to swim rivers and sounds.

Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.

1. To immerse in water that the lighter parts may swim; as, to swim wheat for seed.

SWIMM, noun The bladder of fishes, by which they are said to be supported in water.

SWIM'MER, noun One that swims.

1. A protuberance on the leg of a horse.

SWIM'MING, participle present tense Floating on a fluid; moving on a fluid; having a waving or reeling motion; overflowing; abounding.

SWIM'MING, noun The act or art of moving on the water by means of the limbs; a floating.

1. Dizziness.

SWIM'MINGLY, adverb Smoothly; without obstruction; with great success. [Not elegant.]

SWIN'DLE, verb transitive To cheat and defraud grossly, or with deliberate artifice; as, to swindle a man out of his property.

SWIN'DLED, participle passive Grossly cheated and defrauded.

SWIN'DLER, noun A cheat; a rogue; one who defrauds grossly, or one who makes a practice of defrauding others by imposition or deliberate artifice.

SWINE, noun sing. and plural A hog, a quadruped of the genus Sus, which furnishes man with a large portion of his most nourishing food. The fat or lard of this animal enters into various dishes in cookery. The swine is a heavy, stupid animal, and delights to wallow in the mire.

SWI'NEHERD, noun [swine and herd.] A keeper of swing.

SWING, verb intransitive preterit tense and participle passive swung.

1. To move to and fro, as a body suspended in the air; to wave; to vibrate.

I tried if a pendulum would swing faster, or continue swinging longer in our receiver, if exhausted.

2. To practice swinging; as, a man swings for health or pleasure.

3. To move or float; also, to turn round an anchor; as, a ship swings with the tide.

SWING, verb transitive To make to play loosely; to cause to wave or vibrate; as a body suspended in the air.

1. To whirl round in the air.

--Swing thee in air, then dash thee down.

2. To wave; to move to and from; as, a man swings his arms when he walks.

He swings his tail, and swiftly turns him round.

3. To brandish; to flourish.

SWING, noun A waving or vibratory motion; oscillation; as the swing of a pendulum.

1. Motion from one side to the other. A haughty man struts or walks with a swing

2. A line, cord or other thing suspended and hanging loose; also, an apparatus suspended for persons to swing in.

3. Influence or power of a body put in motion.

The ram that batters down the wall,

For the great swing and rudeness of his poise--

4. Free course; unrestrained liberty or license.

Take thy swing

To prevent any thing which may prove an obstacle to the full swing of his genius.

5. The sweep or compass of a moving body.

6. Unrestrained tendency; as the prevailing swing of corrupt nature; the swing of propensities.

SWING'-BRIDGE, noun [swing and bridge.] A bridge that may be moved by swinging; used on canals.

SWINGE, verb transitive swinj.

1. To beat soundly; to whip; to bastinade; to chastise; to punish.

You swing'd me for my love.

--And swings his own vices in his son.

2. To move as a lash. [Not in use.]

[This verb is obsolescent and vulgar.]

SWINGE, noun swinj. A sway; a swing; the sweep of any thing in motion [Not in use.]

SWING'ER, noun One who swings; one who hurls.

SWING'ING, participle present tense of swing. Waving; vibrating; brandishing.

SWING'ING, noun The act of swinging; an exercise for health or pleasure.

SWING'ING, participle present tense of swinge. Beating soundly.

1. adjective Hugh; very large. [Vulgar.]

SWING'INGLY, adverb Vastly; hugely. [Vulgar.]

SWIN'GLE, verb intransitive [from swing.] To dangle; to wave hanging.

1. To swing for pleasure. [Not in use.]

SWIN'GLE, verb transitive To beat; to clean flax by beating it with a wooden instrument resembling a large knife, and called in New England a swingling knife. Flax is first broke and then swingled.

SWIN'GLE, noun In wire-works, a wooden spoke fixed to the barrel that draws the wire; also, a crank.

SWIN'GLED, participle passive Beat and cleaned by a swingling knife.

SWIN'GLING, participle present tense Beating and cleaning, as flax.

SWI'NISH, adjective [from swine.] Befitting swine; like swine; gross; hoggish; brutal; as a swinish drunkard or sot; swinish gluttony.

SWINK, verb intransitive To labor; to toil; to drudge.

SWINK, verb transitive To overlabor.

SWINK, noun Labor; toil; drudgery.

SWINK'ER, noun A laborer; a plowman.

SWIPE, noun A swape or sweep, which see.

SWIP'PER, adjective Nimble; quick. [Not in use.]

SWISS, noun A native of Switzerland or Swisserland.

1. The language of Swisserland.

SWITCH, noun A small flexible twig or rod.

On the medal, Mauritania leads a horse by a thread with one hand, and in the other holds a switch

SWITCH, verb transitive To strike with a small twig or rod; to beat; to lash.

SWITCH, verb intransitive To walk with a jerk.

SWIVEL, noun swiv'l.

1. A ring which turns upon a staple; or a strong link of iron used in mooring ships, and which permits the bridles to be turned round; any ring or staple that turns.

2. A small cannon or piece of artillery, carrying a shot of half a pound, fixed on a socket on the top of a ship's side, stern or bow, or in her tops, in such a manner as to be turned in any direction.

SWIVEL, verb intransitive swiv'l. To turn on a staple, pin or pivot.

SWOB, noun A mop. [See Swab.]

SWOB, verb transitive To clean or wipe with a swob [See Swab.]

SWOB'BER, noun One who swabs or cleans with a mop. [See Swabber.]

1. Swobbers, four privileged cards, only used incidentally in betting at the game of whist.

SWOLLEN

SWOLN, participle passive of swell; irregular and obsolescent. The regular participle, swelled, is to be preferred.

SWOLN, pp. of swell; irregular and obsolescent. The regular participle, swelled, is to be preferred.

SWOM, old preterit tense of swim, is obsolete. We now use swum and swam.

SWOON, verb intransitive To faint; to sink into a fainting fit, in which there is a suspension of the apparent vital functions and mental powers.

The most in years swoon'd first away for pain.

He seemed ready to swoon away in the surprise of joy.

SWOON, noun A fainting fit; lipothymy; syncope.

SWOON'ING, participle present tense Fainting away.

SWOON'ING, noun The act of fainting; syncope.

SWOOP, verb transitive [This is probably from sweep, or the same root.]

1. To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken; a kite swoops up a mouse.

2. To seize; to catchup; to take with a sweep.

3. To pass with violence.

SWOOP, verb intransitive To pass with pomp.

SWOOP, noun A falling on and seizing, as of a rapacious fowl on his prey.

The eagle fell--and carried away a whole litter of cubs at a swoop

SWOP, verb transitive To exchange; to barter; to give one commodity for another. [See Swap. This is a common word, but not in elegant use.]

SWORD, noun

1. An offensive weapon worn at the side, and used by hand either for thrusting or cutting.

2. Figuratively, destruction by war.

I will bring a sword upon you. Leviticus 26:6. Isaiah 51:19.

3. Vengeance or justice.

She quits the balance, and resigns the sword

4. Emblem of authority and power.

The ruler--beareth not the sword in vain. Romans 13:4.

5. War; dissension.

I came not to send peace, but a sword Matthew 10:34.

6. Emblem of triumph and protection.

The Lord--the sword of thy excellence. Deuteronomy 33:29.

SWORDED, adjective Girded with a sword.

SWORDER, noun A soldier; a cut-throat. [Not in use.]

SWORE, preterit tense of swear.

SWORN, participle passive of swear. The officers of government are sworn to a faithful discharge of their duty.

SWORN friends, is a phrase equivalent to determined, close or firm friends.

I am sworn brother, sweet,

To grim necessity.

SWORN enemies, are determined or irreconcilable enemies.

SWOUND, verb intransitive To swoon. [Not in use.]

SWUM, preterit tense and participle passive of swim.

SWUNG, preterit tense and participle passive of swing.