Swathe Swathe noun A bandage; a band; a swath.

Wrapped me in above an hundred yards of swathe .

Addison.

Milk and a swathe , at first, his whole demand.

Young.

The solemn glory of the afternoon, with its long swathes of light between the far off rows of limes.

G. Eliot.

Swather Swath"er noun [ See Swath , noun ] (Agriculture) A device attached to a mowing machine for raising the uncut fallen grain and marking the limit of the swath.

Swatte Swat"te obsolete imperfect of Sweat . Chaucer.

Sway Sway transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swayed ; present participle & verbal noun Swaying .] [ Middle English sweyen , Icelandic sveigja , akin to English swing ; confer Dutch zwaaijen to wield, swing. See Swing , and confer Swag , intransitive verb ] 1. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield; as, to sway the scepter.

As sparkles from the anvil rise,
When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed .

Spenser.

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

The will of man is by his reason swayed .

Shak.

She could not sway her house.

Shak.

This was the race
To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.

Dryden.

3. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp; as, reeds swayed by wind; judgment swayed by passion.

As bowls run true by being made
On purpose false, and to be swayed .

Hudibras.

Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

Tillotson.

4. (Nautical) To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.

Syn. -- To bias; rule; govern; direct; influence; swing; move; wave; wield.

Sway Sway intransitive verb 1. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.

The balance sways on our part.

Bacon.

2. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward.

3. To have weight or influence.

The example of sundry churches . . . doth sway much.

Hooker.

4. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Hadst thou swayed as kings should do.

Shak.

Sway Sway noun 1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; the swing or sweep of a weapon.

With huge two-handed sway brandished aloft.

Milton.

2. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side; as, the sway of desires. A. Tucker.

3. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.

Expert
When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway
Of battle.

Milton.

4. Rule; dominion; control. Cowper.

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway ,
The post of honor is a private station.

Addison.

5. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Syn. -- Rule; dominion; power; empire; control; influence; direction; preponderance; ascendency.

Sway bar Sway bar (Vehicles) (a) A bar attached to the hounds, in the rear of the front axle, so as to slide on the reach as the axle is swung in turning the vehicle. (b) Either of the two bars used in coupling the front and rear sleds of a logging sled; also, the bar used to couple two logging cars.

Sway-backed Sway"-backed` adjective Having the back hollow or sagged, whether naturally or as the result of injury or weakness; -- said of horses and other animals.

Sway-bracing Sway"-bra`cing noun (Engineering) The horizontal bracing of a bridge, which prevents its swaying.

Swayed Swayed adjective Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse. Shak.

Swayful Sway"ful adjective Able to sway. [ R.] Rush.

Swaying Sway"ing noun An injury caused by violent strains or by overloading; -- said of the backs of horses. Crabb.

Sweal Sweal intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swealed ; present participle & verbal noun Swealing .] [ Middle English swelen to burn, Anglo-Saxon swelan ; akin to German schwelen to burn slowly, schwül sultry, Icelandic svæla a thick smoke.] To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; to waste away without feeding the flame. [ Written also swale .] Sir W. Scott.

Sweal Sweal transitive verb To singe; to scorch; to swale; as, to sweal a pig by singeing off the hair.

Swear Swear intransitive verb [ imperfect Swore , formerly Sware ; past participle Sworn ; present participle & verbal noun Swearing .] [ Middle English swerien , Anglo-Saxon swerian ; akin to Dutch zweren , Old Saxon swerian , Old High German swerien , German schwören , Icelandic sverja , Swedish svärja , Danish sværge , Icelandic & Swedish svara to answer, Danish svare , Dan. & Swedish svar an answer, Goth. swaran to swear, and perhaps to English swarm . √177. Confer Answer .] 1. To affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed; to make a promise, threat, or resolve on oath; also, to affirm solemnly by some sacred object, or one regarded as sacred, as the Bible, the Koran, etc.

Ye shall swear by my name falsely.

Lev. xix. 12.

I swear by all the Roman gods.

Shak.

2. (Law) To give evidence on oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement; he swore against the prisoner.

3. To make an appeal to God in an irreverant manner; to use the name of God or sacred things profanely; to call upon God in imprecation; to curse.

[ I] swore little; diced not above seven times a week.

Shak.

To swear by , to place great confidence in a person or thing; to trust implicitly as an authority. "I simply meant to ask if you are one of those who swear by Lord Verulam." Miss Edgeworth. -- To swear off , to make a solemn vow, or a serious resolution, to abstain from something; as, to swear off smoking. [ Slang]

Swear Swear transitive verb 1. To utter or affirm with a solemn appeal to God for the truth of the declaration; to make (a promise, threat, or resolve) under oath.

Swear unto me here by God, that thou wilt not deal falsely with me.

Gen. xxi. 23.

He swore consent to your succession.

Shak.

2. (Law) To put to an oath; to cause to take an oath; to administer an oath to; -- ofetn followed by in or into ; as, to swear witnesses; to swear a jury; to swear in an officer; he was sworn into office.

3. To declare or charge upon oath; as, he swore treason against his friend. Johnson.

4. To appeal to by an oath.

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

Shak.

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 that he will keep the peace.

Swearer Swear"er noun 1. One who swears; one who calls God to witness for the truth of his declaration.

2. A profane person; one who uses profane language.

Then the liars and swearers are fools.

Shak.

Swearing Swear"ing adjective & noun from Swear , v.

Idle swearing is a cursedness.

Chaucer.

Sweat Sweat intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Sweat or Sweated (Obsolete Swat ); present participle & verbal noun Sweating .] [ Middle English sweten , Anglo-Saxon swætan , from swāt , noun , sweat; akin to OFries. & Old Saxon swēt , Dutch zweet , Old High German sweiz , German schweiss , Icelandic sviti , sveiti , Swedish svett , Danish sved , Latin sudor sweat, sudare to sweat, Greek ..., ..., sweat, ... to sweat, Sanskrit svēda sweat, svid to sweat. √178. Confer Exude , Sudary , Sudorific .] 1. To excrete sensible moisture from the pores of the skin; to perspire. Shak.

2. Fig.: To perspire in toil; to work hard; to drudge.

He 'd have the poets sweat .

Waller.

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

Sweat Sweat transitive verb 1. To cause to excrete moisture from the skin; to cause to perspire; as, his physicians attempted to sweat him by most powerful sudorifics.

2. To emit or suffer to flow from the pores; to exude.

It made her not a drop for sweat .

Chaucer.

With exercise she sweat ill humors out.

Dryden.

3. To unite by heating, after the application of soldier.

4. To get something advantageous, as money, property, or labor from (any one), by exaction or oppression; as, to sweat a spendthrift; to sweat laborers. [ Colloq.]

To sweat coin , to remove a portion of a piece of coin, as by shaking it with others in a bag, so that the friction wears off a small quantity of the metal.

The only use of it [ money] which is interdicted is to put it in circulation again after having diminished its weight by " sweating ", or otherwise, because the quantity of metal contains is no longer consistent with its impression.

R. Cobden.

Sweat Sweat noun [ Confer Middle English swot , Anglo-Saxon swāt . See Sweat , intransitive verb ] 1. (Physiol.) The fluid which is excreted from the skin of an animal; the fluid secreted by the sudoriferous glands; a transparent, colorless, acid liquid with a peculiar odor, containing some fatty acids and mineral matter; perspiration. See Perspiration .

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.

Gen. iii. 19.

2. The act of sweating; or the state of one who sweats; hence, labor; toil; drudgery. Shak.

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

4. The sweating sickness. [ Obsolete] Holinshed.

5. (Man.) A short run by a race horse in exercise.

Sweat box (Nautical) , a small closet in which refractory men are confined. -- Sweat glands (Anat.) , sudoriferous glands. See under Sudoriferous .

Sweater Sweat"er noun 1. One who sweats.

2. One who, or that which, causes to sweat ; as: (a) A sudorific. (b) A woolen jacket or jersey worn by athletes. (c) An employer who oppresses his workmen by paying low wages. [ Slang]

Sweatily Sweat"i·ly adverb In a sweaty manner.

Sweatiness Sweat"i·ness noun Quality or state of being sweaty.

Sweating Sweat"ing adjective & noun from Sweat , v.

Sweating bath , a bath producing sensible sweat; a stove or sudatory. -- Sweating house , a house for sweating persons in sickness. -- Sweating iron , a kind of knife, or a piece of iron, used to scrape off sweat, especially from horses; a horse scraper. -- Sweating room . (a) A room for sweating persons. (b) (Dairying) A room for sweating cheese and carrying off the superfluous juices. -- Sweating sickness (Medicine) , a febrile epidemic disease which prevailed in some countries of Europe, but particularly in England, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, characterized by profuse sweating. Death often occured in a few hours.

Sweaty Sweat"y adjective [ Compar. Sweatier ; superl. Sweatiest .] 1. Moist with sweat; as, a sweaty skin; a sweaty garment.

2. Consisting of sweat; of the nature of sweat.

No noisome whiffs or sweaty streams.

Swift.

3. Causing sweat; hence, laborious; toilsome; difficult. "The sweaty forge." Prior.

Swede Swede noun [ Confer German Schwede .] 1. A native or inhabitant of Sweden.

2. (Botany) A Swedish turnip. See under Turnip .

Swedenborgian Swe`den·bor"gi·an noun One who holds the doctrines of the New Jerusalem church, as taught by Emanuel Swedenborg , a Swedish philosopher and religious writer, who was born a.d. 1688 and died 1772. Swedenborg claimed to have intercourse with the spiritual world, through the opening of his spiritual senses in 1745. He taught that the Lord Jesus Christ, as comprehending in himself all the fullness of the Godhead, is the one only God, and that there is a spiritual sense to the Scriptures, which he (Swedenborg) was able to reveal, because he saw the correspondence between natural and spiritual things.

Swedenborgian Swe`den·bor"gi·an adjective Of or pertaining to Swedenborg or his views.

Swedenborgianism Swe`den·bor"gi·an·ism noun The doctrines of the Swedenborgians.

Swedish Swed"ish adjective [ Confer German schwedisch , Swedish svensk .] Of or pertaining to Sweden or its inhabitants.

Swedish turnip . (Botany) See under Turnip .

Swedish Swed"ish noun The language of Swedes.

Sweeny Swee"ny noun (Far.) An atrophy of the muscles of the shoulder in horses; also, atrophy of any muscle in horses. [ Written also swinney .]

Sweep Sweep transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Swept ; present participle & verbal noun Sweeping .] [ Middle English swepen ; akin to Anglo-Saxon swāpan . See Swoop , intransitive verb ] 1. To pass a broom across (a surface) so as to remove loose dirt, dust, etc.; to brush, or rub over, with a broom for the purpose of cleaning; as, to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney. Used also figuratively.

I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.

Isa. xiv. 23.

2. To drive or carry along or off with a broom or a brush, or as if with a broom; to remove by, or as if by, brushing; as, to sweep dirt from a floor; the wind sweeps the snow from the hills; a freshet sweeps away a dam, timber, or rubbish; a pestilence sweeps off multitudes.

The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.

Isa. xxviii. 17.

I have already swept the stakes.

Dryden.

3. To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.

Their long descending train,
With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain.

Dryden.

4. To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.

And like a peacock sweep along his tail.

Shak.

5. To strike with a long stroke.

Wake into voice each silent string,
And sweep the sounding lyre.

Pope.

6. (Nautical) To draw or drag something over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net.

7. To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a telescope.

To sweep, or sweep up , a mold (Founding) , to form the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing it around the pattern.

Sweep Sweep intransitive verb 1. To clean rooms, yards, etc., or to clear away dust, dirt, litter, etc., with a broom, brush, or the like.

2. To brush swiftly over the surface of anything; to pass with switness and force, as if brushing the surface of anything; to move in a stately manner; as, the wind sweeps across the plain; a woman sweeps through a drawing- room.

3. To pass over anything comprehensively; to range through with rapidity; as, his eye sweeps through space.

Sweep Sweep noun 1. The act of sweeping.

2. The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep .

3. The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye.

4. The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away everything within its sweep .

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

6. Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the sweep of a compass.

7. Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, or the like, away from a rectlinear line.

The road which makes a small sweep .

Sir W. Scott.

8. One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney sweeper.

9. (Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam molding.

10. (Nautical) (a) The mold of a ship when she begins to curve in at the rungheads; any part of a ship shaped in a segment of a circle. (b) A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.

11. (Refining) The almond furnace. [ Obsolete]

12. A long pole, or piece of timber, moved on a horizontal fulcrum fixed to a tall post and used to raise and lower a bucket in a well for drawing water. [ Variously written swape , sweep , swepe , and swipe .]

13. (Card Playing) In the game of casino, a pairing or combining of all the cards on the board, and so removing them all; in whist, the winning of all the tricks (thirteen) in a hand; a slam.

14. plural The sweeping of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.

Sweep net , a net for drawing over a large compass. -- Sweep of the tiller (Nautical) , a circular frame on which the tiller traverses.

Sweep-saw Sweep"-saw` noun A bow- saw.

Sweepage Sweep"age noun The crop of hay got in a meadow. [ Prov. Eng.]

Sweeper Sweep"er noun One who, or that which, sweeps, or cleans by sweeping; a sweep; as, a carpet sweeper .

It is oxygen which is the great sweeper of the economy.

Huxley.

Sweeping Sweep"ing adjective Cleaning off surfaces, or cleaning away dust, dirt, or litter, as a broom does; moving with swiftness and force; carrying everything before it; including in its scope many persons or things; as, a sweeping flood; a sweeping majority; a sweeping accusation. -- Sweep"ing*ly , adverb - Sweep"ing*ness , noun

Sweepings Sweep"ings noun plural Things collected by sweeping; rubbish; as, the sweepings of a street.

Sweepstake Sweep"stake` noun 1. A winning of all the stakes or prizes. Heylin.

2. A complete removal or carrying away; a clean sweep. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hacket.

Sweepstakes Sweep"stakes` noun 1. A winning of all the stakes or prizes; a sweepstake.

2. sing. or plural The whole money or other things staked at a horse race, a given sum being put up for each horse, all of which goes to the winner, or is divided among several, as may be previously agreed.

3. A race for all the sums staked or prizes offered.

Sweepwasher Sweep"wash`er noun One who extracts the residuum of precious metals from the sweepings, potsherds, etc., of refineries of gold and silver, or places where these metals are used.

Sweepy Sweep"y adjective Moving with a sweeping motion.

The branches bend before their sweepy away.

Dryden.

Sweet Sweet adjective [ Compar. Sweeter ; superl. Sweetest .] [ Middle English swete , swote , sote , Anglo-Saxon swēte ; akin to OFries. swēte , Old Saxon swōti , Dutch zoet , German süss , Old High German suozi , Icelandic sætr , sœtr , Swedish söt , Danish söd , Goth. suts , Latin suavis , for suadvis , Greek ..., Sanskrit svādu sweet, svad , svād , to sweeten. √175. Confer Assuage , Suave , Suasion .] 1. Having an agreeable taste or flavor such as that of sugar; saccharine; -- opposed to sour and bitter ; as, a sweet beverage; sweet fruits; sweet oranges.

2. Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; redolent; balmy; as, a sweet rose; sweet odor; sweet incense.

The breath of these flowers is sweet to me.

Longfellow.

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

To make his English sweet upon his tongue.

Chaucer.

A voice sweet , tremulous, but powerful.

Hawthorne.

4. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair; as, a sweet face; a sweet color or complexion.

Sweet interchange
Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains.

Milton.

5. Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water. Bacon.

6. Not changed from a sound or wholesome state. Specifically: (a) Not sour; as, sweet milk or bread. (b) Not state; not putrescent or putrid; not rancid; as, sweet butter; sweet meat or fish.

7. Plaesing to the mind; mild; gentle; calm; amiable; winning; presuasive; as, sweet manners.

Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades?

Job xxxviii. 31.

Mildness and sweet reasonableness is the one established rule of Christian working.

M. Arnold.

» Sweet is often used in the formation of self- explaining compounds; as, sweet -blossomed, sweet - featured, sweet -smelling, sweet -tempered, sweet - toned, etc.

Sweet alyssum . (Botany) See Alyssum . -- Sweet apple . (Botany) (a) Any apple of sweet flavor. (b) See Sweet-top . -- Sweet bay . (Botany) (a) The laurel ( laurus nobilis ). (b) Swamp sassafras. -- Sweet calabash (Botany) , a plant of the genus Passiflora ( P. maliformis ) growing in the West Indies, and producing a roundish, edible fruit, the size of an apple. -- Sweet cicely . (Botany) (a) Either of the North American plants of the umbelliferous genus Osmorrhiza having aromatic roots and seeds, and white flowers. Gray. (b) A plant of the genus Myrrhis ( M. odorata ) growing in England. -- Sweet calamus , or Sweet cane . (Botany) Same as Sweet flag , below. -- Sweet Cistus (Botany) , an evergreen shrub ( Cistus Ladanum ) from which the gum ladanum is obtained. -- Sweet clover . (Botany) See Melilot . -- Sweet coltsfoot (Botany) , a kind of butterbur ( Petasites sagittata ) found in Western North America. -- Sweet corn (Botany) , a variety of the maize of a sweet taste. See the Note under Corn . -- Sweet fern (Botany) , a small North American shrub ( Comptonia, or Myrica, asplenifolia ) having sweet-scented or aromatic leaves resembling fern leaves. -- Sweet flag (Botany) , an endogenous plant ( Acorus Calamus ) having long flaglike leaves and a rootstock of a pungent aromatic taste. It is found in wet places in Europe and America. See Calamus , 2. -- Sweet gale (Botany) , a shrub ( Myrica Gale ) having bitter fragrant leaves; -- also called sweet willow , and Dutch myrtle . See 5th Gale . -- Sweet grass (Botany) , holy, or Seneca, grass. -- Sweet gum (Botany) , an American tree ( Liquidambar styraciflua ). See Liquidambar . -- Sweet herbs , fragrant herbs cultivated for culinary purposes. -- Sweet John (Botany) , a variety of the sweet William. -- Sweet leaf (Botany) , horse sugar. See under Horse . -- Sweet marjoram . (Botany) See Marjoram . -- Sweet marten (Zoology) , the pine marten. -- Sweet maudlin (Botany) , a composite plant ( Achillea Ageratum ) allied to milfoil. -- Sweet oil , olive oil. -- Sweet pea . (Botany) See under Pea . -- Sweet potato . (Botany) See under Potato . -- Sweet rush (Botany) , sweet flag. -- Sweet spirits of niter (Med. Chem.) See Spirit of nitrous ether , under Spirit . -- Sweet sultan (Botany) , an annual composite plant ( Centaurea moschata ), also, the yellow-flowered ( C. odorata ); -- called also sultan flower . -- Sweet tooth , an especial fondness for sweet things or for sweetmeats. [ Colloq.] -- Sweet William . (a) (Botany) A species of pink ( Dianthus barbatus ) of many varieties. (b) (Zoology) The willow warbler. (c) (Zoology) The European goldfinch; -- called also sweet Billy . [ Prov. Eng.] -- Sweet willow (Botany) , sweet gale. -- Sweet wine . See Dry wine , under Dry . -- To be sweet on , to have a particular fondness for, or special interest in, as a young man for a young woman. [ Colloq.] Thackeray.

Syn. -- Sugary; saccharine; dulcet; luscious.

Sweet Sweet noun 1. That which is sweet to the taste; -- used chiefly in the plural. Specifically: (a) Confectionery, sweetmeats, preserves, etc. (b) Home-made wines, cordials, metheglin, etc.

2. That which is sweet or pleasant in odor; a perfume. "A wilderness of sweets ." Milton.

3. That which is 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 .

Locke.

4. One who is dear to another; a darling; -- a term of endearment. "Wherefore frowns my sweet ?" B. Jonson.

Sweet Sweet adverb Sweetly. Shak.

Sweet Sweet transitive verb To sweeten. [ Obsolete] Udall.

Sweet-breasted Sweet"-breast`ed adjective Having a sweet, musical voice, as the nightingale. Confer Breast , noun , 6. [ Obsolete]

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