swither 
But the virtue o' a leal woman 
I trow wail never sirither O. 
Johnnie Faa (Child's Ballads, IV. 285). 
The . . . disordered line all but reached the lip of the 
glacis. Hut there it gunthered. 
Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 27. 
2. To fear. HitlHicell. [Prov. Eng. or Scotch 
in both uses.] 
swither 1 (swiTH'er), >i. (AlaoswMder; <suith- 
ryl, c.] 1. Doubt; hesitation; perplexity; a 
state of irresolute wavering. 
He put the house in sic a neither 
That five o' them he sticket dead. 
Willie Wallace (Child's Ballads, VI. 230). 
That put me in an eerie wittier. 
Buna, Death and Dr. llornbook. 
2. A fright. Hlliirell.3. A perspiration. 
H/illiwell. [Prov. Eiig. or Scotch in all uses.] 
swither 2 (swiTH'er), r. t. [< ME. 'sicitlireii, < 
Icel. sridhra, scorch, freq. otsvMha, burn: see 
xiritlie 2 ,] To burn ; scorch. HalUwell. 
swither 3 (swiTH-'er), v. i. [Also sifidder; per- 
haps imitative ; cf. swirl.'] To emit a whirring 
sound; whizz. Hogg. [Scotch.] 
Switzer (swit'ser), n. [Formerly also Swlsser ; 
< G. Schweizer, a Swiss, < Schweiz, Switzerland, 
a name extended from Schwyz, one of the can- 
tons which, with the other Forest Cantons, Uri, 
Unterwalden, and Lucerne, took the leading 
part in developing the Swiss confederacy : see 
Swiss.] A native of Switzerland; a Swiss; 
specifically, one of a hired body-guard of Swiss 
(or, by extension, soldiers of other nationality 
incorporated in this body) attendant on a king 
or the Pope. 
Where are ray Switzersf Let them guard the door. 
Shale., Hamlet, iv. 6. 97. 
Boterus ascribeth vnto China seuentie millions of peo- 
ple, whereas he alloweth to Italy scarce nine, and to 
Spaine lesse, to England three, to all Germany, with the 
Swttzers and Low Countries, but flfteene, and as many to 
all France. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 449. 
SWivet, ' t- and i. [< ME. swiven, appar. < AS. 
swifaii (pret. swdf, pp. swifen), move quickly, 
turn round, = OFries. siciva, be unsteady, 
move about, = OHG. swifan, MHG. swifen, 
turn round, = Icel. svifa, rove, ramble, turn, 
drift; cf. OHG. sweibdn, MHG. sweiben, also 
OHG. sweben, MHG. sweben, G. schweben, hover.] 
To perform the act of copulation with; have 
sexual intercourse. Chaucer. 
swivel (swiv'l), n. [Not found in ME. or AS. ; 
prob. ult. < AS. swifan, turn around: see sicire. 
Cf. Icel. sreifla, set in circular motion.] 1. A fas- 
tening so contrived as to allow 
the thing fastened to turn free- 
ly round on its axis; a piece 
fixed to a similar piece, or to 
any body, by a pin or other- 
wise, so as to revolve or turn 
freely in any direction ; a twist- 
ing link in a chain, consisting 
of a ring or hook ending in a 
headed pin which turns in a link of the chain 
so as to prevent kinking. See also cut under 
rowlock. 
A large new gold repeating watch made by a French- 
man ; a gold chain, aud all the proper appurtenances hung 
upon steel swivels. Steele, Tatler, No. 246. 
2. A gun mounted on a swivel or pivot: com- 
monly, but not always, limited to very small 
and light guns so mounted. 
When his long snivel rakes the staggering wreck. 
O. W. Holmes. 
3. A rest on the gunwale of a boat for sup- 
porting a piece of ordnance or other article that 
requires swinging in a horizontal plane. 4. 
A small gun on the deck of a fishing-schooner, 
used in foggy weather to signal to the dories 
the position of the vessel. 5. A diminutive 
shuttle used in the figure-weaving of silk, etc., 
and moved to and fro by slides or by hand. They 
carry threads of various tints, used to obtain special ef- 
fects, as in the shading of figures or flowers, etc. 
6. A small shuttle for use in a swivel-loom for 
weaving ribbons Swivel table-clamp. See table- 
damp. 
swivel (swiv'l), v. ; pret. and pp. swii'eled, 
swivelled, ppr. sniveling, swivelling. [< swivel, n.} 
I. intrans. To turn on or as on a staple, pin, or 
pivot. 
Until at last, at the mention of the name of a girl who 
was strongly suspected, the sieve violently mmeeUed round 
and dropped on the ground. JV. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 333. 
II. trunx. To turn (anything) on or as on a 
swivel of any kind. 
The tripod possesses an elevating arrangement, and the 
piece can be snivelled in any desired direction. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 365. 
6118 
swivel-bridge (swiv'1-brij), n. 
swivel-eye (swiv'l-i), . Asqui 
A swing-bridge, 
int-eye. [Slang.] 
She found herself possessed of what is colloquially 
termed a swivel-eye. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. 12. 
swivel-eyed (swiv'l -id), a. Squint-eyed. 
[Slang.] 
swivel-gun (swiv'1-gun), . Same an swivel, 2. 
swivel-hanger (swiv'l-hang"er), . A hanger 
for shafting, with pivoted boxes for permitting 
a certain amount of play in the motion of the 
shaft. 
swivel-hook (swiv'1-huk), /. A hook secured 
to anything by means of a swivel. Swivel-hook 
block, a pulley-block in which the suspeiiding-hook is 
swiveled to the block so that the latter may turn to pre- 
sent the sheave in any direction. 
swivel-joint (swiv'l-joint). n. One member of 
a chain or tie of rods, or the like, which is fit- 
ted to move freely on a swivel, to prevent twist- 
ing and kinking in the case of uneven strain. 
swivel-keeper (swiv'l-ke"per), n. A ring or 
hook, from which keys, etc., are hung, fitted 
with a swivel, to avoid the twisting of the chain 
which suspends it. 
swivel-loom (swiv'1-lom), . In wearing, a rib- 
bon-loom fitted to use swivels carried in frames 
on the batten, and adapted to weave from ten 
to thirty ribbons simultaneously. 
swivel-musket (swiv'l-mus"ket), n. Same as 
jinr/al. 
swivel-plow (swiv'1-plou), w. A hillside-plow ; 
areversible mold-board plow. See under plmr. 
Swivel-sinker (swiv'l-siug"ker), n. A combi- 
nation of swivel and sinker, used in angling, 
which allows the snood and bait to revolve. 
Norris. 
swizzle (swiz'l), r. t. ; pret. and pp. swizzled, 
ppr. swizzling. [A popular word, perhaps a fu- 
sion of swill and guzzle.'] To drink habitually 
and to excess; swill. Halliwell. [Colloq.] 
swizzle (swiz'l), n. [< swizzle, >.] One of va- 
rious differently compounded drinks. [Colloq.] 
So the rum was produced forthwith, and, as I lighted a 
pipe and filled a glass of swizzle, I struck in, " Messmates, 
I hope you have all shipped?" 
M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ii. 
swizzle-Stick (swiz'1-stik), n. A stick or whisk 
used in making swizzles and other drinks : in 
China and Japan usually made of bamboo. 
[Colloq.] 
Fallen from their high estate, they (the West India 
Islands! are to-day chiefly associated with such petty 
transactions as the production of swizzle sticks and guava 
jelly. Elect. Rev. (F,ng.), XXVII. 777. 
SWOb. v. and n. See swab 1 . 
SWObber, . See swabber. 
SWOlet, *' A variant of sweal, swale. 
The reader may not have a Just idea of a swoled mutton, 
which is a sheep roasted in its wool, to save the labour of 
flaying. W. King, Art of Cookery, Letter v. 
swollen, SWOln (swoln), p. a. [Formerly also 
Sweden; pp. of swell.'] Swelled; marked by 
swelling, in any sense, or by a swelling: as, a 
swollen river. 
Those men which be merie and glad be always fat, 
whole, and well coloured ; and those that be sad and mel- 
ancholike alwaies go heauie, sorrowful, swellen, and of an 
euill colour. 
Quevam, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 134. 
Thick sighs and tears from her swoln mouth and eyes 
Echo the storms which in her bosom rise. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 219. 
swolowt, swolowet, swolwet. Middle English 
forms of sirallow 1 , swallow^. 
SWOmt. An old preterit of swim 1 . 
SWOmpt, An obsolete spelling of swamp. 
swonkent. Past participle of swink. 
swoon (swon), v. i. [Formerly or dial, also 
swown, swoun (and swoiind, sound: see sivound) ; 
< ME. swounen, sicownen, swowenen, swollen, 
swoglienen, swoon; with passive formative -, 
< sicoweii, swogneii, swoon, sigh deeply: see 
swoiigh 1 , sough 1 . Cf. swound.] 1. To faint. 
And xwonynge schee fylle. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 127. 
Sometimes froward, and then frowning, 
Sometimes sickish, and then swowning. 
B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1. 
She was ready to swoon with hunger. 
Macaulay, Mme. D'Arblay. 
2. To steal upon like a swoon; approach like 
faintness. [Bare.] 
A sudden sense of some strange subtile perfume beat- 
ing up through the acrid, smarting dust of the plain . . . 
came swooning over him. 
Bret Harte, Gabriel Conruy, xxii. 
SWOOn (swon), H. [Formerly or dial, also 
swown, stcoun (and mcound, sound : see swound) ; 
< ME. xieouiie, sicowne, sown*, soun ; from the 
verb.] The act of swooning, or the state of 
sword 
one who has swooned ; a fainting-fit ; syncope ; 
lipothymy. 
Wher for over myche Sorow and Dolor of harte She 
Sodenly fell in to a towM and forgetfullnesse of hyr 
mynde. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 32. 
A swoune meane- while did Rome snstaine; and easily 
in line dayes might Hannibal bane dined in the Capitoll. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 602. 
As in a su'oon, 
With dinning sounds my ears are rife. 
Tennyson, Eleiinore. 
Swooning (swo'ning), n. [< ME. moounyng. 
sironyitf/ ; verbal n. of xiroon, r.] The act of 
fainting; syncope. 
He was so agast of that grysyly goste 
That yn a swonyng he was almoste. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 8f>. 
Thence faintings, swoonings of despair, 
And sense of Heaven's desertion. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 031. 
SWOOningly (swo'ning-li), atle. In a swooning 
manner ; in a swoon. 
After hir sustain forsoth she ne royght ; 
Zou-mjngly she fll wofully to grounde. 
Itam. ojTPartenay (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 3566. 
swoop (swop), c. [An altered form of *swope 
(pron. swop), < ME. swopen, sweep, cleanse, < 
AS. swapan (pret. swedp, pp. swdpen), sweep 
along, rush, swoop ; cf . Icel. sopa, sweep. See 
sweep, and also swape, swipe.] I. intrans. If. 
To move along with a rush ; sweep ; pass with 
pomp. 
Thus as she |Severne| swoops along, with all that goodly 
train. Drayton, Polyolbion, vi. 363. 
2. To descend upon, or as if upou, prey sud- 
denly from a height, as a hawk ; stoop. 
Like the king of birds swooping on his prey, he fell on 
some galleys separated by a considerable interval from 
their companions. Prescott. (Imp. Diet.) 
While alarm beacons were flaming out on hill and head- 
land, while shire-reeve and town-reeve were mustering 
men for the fyrd, the Dane had already swooped upou 
abbey and grange. J. It. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 85. 
II. trans. 1. To fall on at once and seize; 
dash upon and seize while on the wing : often 
with up : as, a hawk swoops a chicken ; a kite 
swoops up a mouse. 
Pasture-fields 
Neighbouring too near the ocean are swoop'd up, 
And known no more. Ford, Perkin Warbeck, i. 2. 
2. To seize ; catch up ; take with a sweep. 
The physician looks with another eye on the medicinal 
herb than the grazing ox which swoops it in with the com- 
mon grass. Glanvitte, Seep. Sci. 
SWOOp (swop), n. [< siFoop, v.] The sudden 
pouncing of a rapacious bird on its prey ; a fall- 
ing on and seizing, as of a bird on its prey; 
hence, a sudden descent, as of a body of troops ; 
a sweeping movement. 
O hell-kite! A11V 
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam 
At one fell swoop? Shak., Macbeth, iv. 3. 219. 
As swift as the swoop of the eagle. 
Longfelloio, Evangeline, I. 1. 
They were led that day with all the insight and the swoop 
that mark a great commander. 
F. Harrison, Oliver Cromwell, ix. 
No longer will a Russian sii'oop upon Herat send a wave 
of panic from one end of India to the other. 
Nineteenth Century, XXIV. 916. 
SWOOpstake (swop'stak), . [< swoop + stake 2 .] 
Same as sieeepstake. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
Fraud with deceit, deceit with fraud outfacde, 
I would the diuel were there to cry swoopstake. 
Heywood, 2 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1S74, I. 116). 
SWOOpstaket (swop'stak), adr. Same as sieeep- 
stake. 
Is 't writ in your revenge 
That swoopstake you will draw both friend and foe, 
Winner and loser? Shak., Hamlet, iv. 5. 142. 
SWOOtt, n. A Middle English form of sweat. 
swop. See swap 1 , swap"*. 
sword 1 (sord), n. [Early mod. E. also swerd ; 
< ME. sword, swerd, sweordj < AS. sweord = OS. 
swerd = OFries. swerd, sicird = MD. sweerd, 
swaerd, D. zwaard MLG.swert, LG. sweerd = 
OHG. MHG. swert, G. schwert = Icel. sverdli 
= Sw. svfird = Dan. sveerd, a sword; root un- 
known. An appar. older Teut. name appears 
in AS. heoru = Goth, tiairus, a sword; cf. Skt. 
garu, spear or arrow.] 1. An offensive weapon 
consisting of an edged blade fixed in a hilt com- 
posed of a grip, a guard, and a pommel. See 
hilt. The sword is usually carried in a scabbard, and in 
the belt or hanging from the belt (see belt, hanger, car- 
riage), but sometimes in a baldric, or, as in the middle 
ages, secured to the armor. The word includes weapons 
with straight, slightly curved, and much-curved blades ; 
weapons with one or two edges, or triangular in section ; 
the blunt or unpointed weapons used in the tourney, which 
were sometimes even of whalebone; and the modern 
schlager. But, in contradistinction to the saber, the sword 
