782 
SWA 
6. Swartziaalata.—With pinnate leaves, and winged com¬ 
mon footstalk.—Native of Guiana. 
I'o SWARVE, v. n. To swerve; which see. 
So all at once they on the prince did thonder, 
Who from his saddle swarved not asyde. Spenser. 
SWASH, s. A figure, whose circumference is not round, 
but oval: and whose mouldings lie not at right angles, but 
oblique to the axis of the work. Moxon. 
To SWASH, v, n. [perhaps from swetsen, Teut. to make 
a shrill noise. Our old lexicographers define swash, “ to 
clash with words and armour.” Sherwood; “ to make a 
noise with swords against targets.” Barret.] To make a 
great clatter or noise; to make a show of valour; to vapour; 
to bully: whence a swashbuckler. Not in use. —Draw, if 
you be men: Gregory, remember thy swashing blow. 
Shakspeare. 
SWASH, s. A blustering noise, in order to make a show 
of valour.—I will flaunt and brave it after the lusty swash. 
The Three Ladies of London. —Impulse of water flowing 
with violence. Johnson. 
SWASH, or Swashy, adj. Soft, like fruit too ripe. 
Derbyshire. Pegge. 
SWASH, Lower, a shoal near the coast of North Ca¬ 
rolina. Lat. 33. 47. N. long. 78. 9. W. 
SWASH, Upper, a shoal near the coast of North Ca¬ 
rolina. Lat. 33. 40. N. long. 78. 10. W. 
SWASH, Nine Feet, a shoal near the coast of North 
Carolina. Lat. 34.21. N. long. 76. 50. W. 
SWASHBUCKLER, s. [See To Swash.] A kind of 
swordplayer; a braggadochio ; a bully.—A swashbuckler 
against the pope, and a dormouse against the devil. Milton. 
SWA'SHER, s. One who makes a show of valour or 
force of arms. Obsolete. —I have observed these three 
swashers; three such anticks do not amount to a man. 
Shakspeare. 
SWATCH, s. A swathe. Not in use. 
One spreadeth those bands so in order to lie, 
As barlie in swatches may fill it thereby. Tusscr. 
SWAT, or Swate, pret. of To sweat. —His hakeney 
so swatte. Chaucer. 
That far sought wealth, for which the noxious gale 
He drew, and swate beneath equator suns. Thomson. 
SWATH, s. [swade, Dutch.] A line of grass or corn 
cut down by the mower. 
The strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge. 
Fall down before him, like the mower’s swath. Shakspeare. 
A continued quantity.—An affection’d ass, that cons 
state without book, and utters it by great swaths. Shak¬ 
speare. —[rueSe, j'useSil, Sax. from j peSan, to bind; so our 
word was swathel; then, swaddle. See Huloet’s Diet.] A 
band; a fillet.—Long pieces of linen, they folded about me, 
till they had wrapped me in above an hundred yards of 
swathe. Guardian. 
To SWATHE, v. a. [pjieban, Saxon.] To bind, as a 
child with bands and rollers. 
He had two sons: the eldest of them at three years old, 
I’ the swathing clothes the other, from their nursery 
Werestol’n. Shakspeare. 
To SWAY, v. a. [ schwebcn , German, to move; sweigia, 
Icel. to bend ; swiga, Su. Goth, the same; which Serenius 
deduces, prefixing s, from the ancient word vega, to move.] 
To wave in the hand; to move or wield any thing massy: 
as, to swap the sceptre. 
Glancing fire out of the iron play’d, 
As sparkles from the anvil rise, 
When heavy hammers on the wedge are sway'd. Spenser. 
To bias; to direct to either side. 
Heav’n forgive them, that so much have sway'd 
Your majesty’s good thoughts away from me. Shakspeare. 
To govern; to rule; to overpower; to influence. 
S W E 
The lady’s mad; yet if ’twereso. 
She could not sway her house, command her followers. 
With such a smooth, discreet, and stable bearing. 
Shakspeare. 
To SWAY, v. 71. To hang heavy; to be drawn by 
weight.—In these personal respects, the balance sways on 
our part. Bacon. —To have weight; to have influence.— 
The example of sundry churches, for approbation of one 
thing, doth sway much; but yet still as having the force of 
an example only, and not of a law. Hooker .—To bear 
rule; to govern. 
Had’st thou sway'd as kings should do. 
They never then had sprung like summer flies. Shakspeare . 
To incline to one side. 
This battle fears like to the morning’s war, 
When dying clouds contend with growing light 
Now sways it this way, like a mighty sea. 
Forc’d by the tide to combat with the wind; 
Now sways it that way, like the self-same sea 
Forc’d to retire by fury of the wind. Shakspeare. 
SWAY, s. The swing or sweep of a weapon.—To strike 
with huge two-handed sway. Milton .—Any thing moving 
with bulk and power. 
Are not you mov’d, when all the sway of earth 
Shakes like a thing unfirm ? Shakspeare. 
Weight; preponderation; cast of the balance. 
Expert 
When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway 
Of battle. Milton. 
Power; rule: dominion. 
Only retain 
The name and all the addition to a king; 
The sway, revenue, execution of th’ hest, 
Beloved sons, be yours. Shakspeare. 
Influence; direction; weight on one side. 
They rush along, the rattling woods give way. 
The branches bend before their sweepy sway. Dry den. 
To SWEAL. See To Swale. 
To SWEAR, v. n. prefer, swore or sware: part. pass. 
sworn. [swaran, Gothic; preplan, Saxon; sweeren, Dutch.] 
To obtest some superior power; to utter an oath. 
Thee, thee an hundred languages shall claim, 
And savage Indians swear by Anna’s name. Tickell, 
To declare or promise upon oath. 
I gave my love a ring, and made him swear 
Never to part with it; and here he stands, 
I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it, 
Nor pluck it from his finger. Shakspeare. 
To give evidence upon oath. 
At what ease 
Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt 
To swear against you ? Shakspeare. 
To obtest the great name profanely. 
Obey thy parents, keep they word justly ; 
Swear not. Shakspeare. 
To SWEAR, v. a. To put to an oath; to bind by an 
oath administered.—Sworn ashore, man, like a duck ; I can 
swim like a duck, I’ll be sworn. Shakspeare .—To declare 
upon oath: as, He swore treason against his friend.—To 
obtest by an oath. 
Now by Apollo, king, thou swear'st thy gods in vain. 
—O vassal! miscreant! Shakspeare 
SWE'ARER, s. A wretch who obtests the great name 
wantonly and profanely.—And must they all be hang’d 
that swear and lie ?—Every one—Who must hang them ?— 
Why, the honest men.—Then the liars and swearers are 
fools; for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the 
honest men and hang them up. Shakspeare. 
SWE'ARING, 
