S W 0 
804 
SWOM, The preterite of swim. —You never sworn the 
Hellespont. Shakspeare. 
To SWOON, v. n. [aj])unan, Saxon.] To suffer a 
suspension of thought and sensation; to faint. 
So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons ; 
Come all to help him, and to stop the air 
By which he should revive. Shakspeare. 
If thou stand’st not i’ th’ state of hanging, or of some 
death more long in spectatorship, and crueler in suffering, 
behold now presently, and swoon for what’s to come upon 
thee. Shakspeare. 
SWOON, s. A lipothymv; a fainting fit. 
SWOO'NING, s. The act of fainting.—Faintings, 
swoonings of despair. Milton. 
To SWOOP, v. a. The same as sweep. —To seize by 
falling at once as a hawk upon his prey. 
This mouldering piecemeal in your hands did fall. 
And now at last you came to swoop it all. Dryden. 
To prey upon; to catch up.—The physician looks 
with another eye on the medicinal herb than the graz¬ 
ing ox, which swoops it in with the common grass. 
Glanville. 
To SWOOP, v. n. To pass with pomp. Not used. 
The nine-ston’d trophy thus whilst she doth entertain, 
Proud Tamer swoops along with such a lusty train, 
As fits so brave a flood. Drayton. 
SWOOP, s. Fall of a bird of prey upon his quarry. 
All my pretty ones ? 
Did you say all ? What, all ? O hellkite! all! 
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam. 
At one fell swoop ? Shakspeare. 
To SWOP, v. a. [Of uncertain derivation. Dr. 
Johnson .]—To change; to exchange one thing for another. 
A low word. 
When I drove a thrust home, he put it by, 
And cried, as in derision, spare the stripling; 
Oh that insulting word ! I would have swopp'd 
Youth for old age, and all my life behind, 
To have been then a momentary man. Dryden. 
SWOP, s. An exchange. See the verb.—These had 
made a foolish swop between a couple of thick bandy legs, 
and two long trapsticks. Sped. 
SWORD, s. [fpeopb, Sax., sweerd, Dutch.] A weapon 
used either in cutting or thrusting; the usual weapon of 
fights hand to hand. 
Old unhappy traitor, the sword is out 
That must destroy thee. Shakspeare. 
Destruction by wav: as, fire and sword. —The sword 
without, and terrour within. Deut.— Vengeance of justice. 
Justice to Merit does weak aid afford. 
She quits the balance, and resigns the sword. Dryden. 
Emblem of authority. 
This I, her sword- bearer, do carry, 
For civil deed and military. Hudibras. 
SWO'RDED, adj. Girt with a sword. 
The sworded seraphim 
Are seen in glittering ranks with wings display’d. Milton. 
SWO'RDER, s. A cut-throat; a soldier. In con¬ 
tempt. 
A Roman sworder and banditto slave 
Murther’d sweet Tully. Shakspeare. 
SWO'RDFISH, s. [aiphias .] A fish with a long sharp 
bone issuing from his head. 
SWO'RDGRASS, s. [gladiolus.] A kind of sedge; 
glader. Ainsworth. 
SWO'RDKNOT, s. Ribband tied to the hilt of the 
sword. 
S Y C 
Wigs with wigs, swordknots with swordknots strive, 
Beaus banish beaus, and coaches coaches drive. Pope. 
SWO'RDLAW, s. Violence; the law by which all is 
yielded to the stronger. 
So violence 
Proceeded, and oppression, and swordlaw, 
Through all the plain, and refuge none was found. Milton. 
SWO'RDM AN, or SWORDSMAN, s. Soldier; fighting 
man.—Worthy fellows, and like to prove most sinewy 
swordrnen. Shakspeare. 
SWO'RDPLAYER, s. Gladiator; fencer; one who 
exhibits in public his skill at the weapons by fighting prizes,, 
—These they called swordplayers, and this spectacle a 
sword-fight. Hakewill. 
SWORDS, a long irregularly built town of Ireland, in 
the county of Dublin. It has no manufacturing establish¬ 
ment, but abounds with houses for the entertainment of tra¬ 
vellers. A pleasant brook winds round the town. Before 
the union with England, it returned two members to the 
Irish parliament. Near this town stands one of those round 
towers peculiar to Ireland. It is 73 feet high, and 55 feet 
in circumference; 7 miles from Dublin castle. 
SWORE. The preterite of swear. [Sax. j]>op.] 
How soon unsay 
What feign’d submission swore. Milton. 
SWORN. The participle passive of swear. 
What does else want credit, come to me. 
And I’ll be s worn ’tis true. Shakspeare. 
I am sworn brother, sweet. 
To grim necessity; and he and I 
Will keep a league till death. Shakspeare. 
SWORTON, a hamlet of England, in the parish of Ros- 
thern, Cheshire. 
SWOSZOWICE, a village of the Austrian empire, in 
Eastern Galicia, circle of Muslenitz. 
To SWOUND, v. n. To swoon. Formerly swoon was 
so written; and it is still sometimes vulgarly so spoken.— 
All in gore blood ; I swounded at the sight. Shakspeare. 
SWUM. Preterite and participle passive of swim. 
Air, water, earth. 
By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk’d 
Frequent. Milton. 
SWUNG. Preterite and participle passive of swing. 
Her hand within her hair she wound. 
Swung her to earth, and dragg’d her on the ground. Addison. 
SYANG, a small island in the Pacific ocean. Lat. 0. 25. 
N. long. 130. 9. E. 
SYBARI'TICAL, or Sybaritic, adj. [from the 
Sybaritce, Latin, inhabitants of Sybaris, so given to volup¬ 
tuousness, that their luxury became proverbial.] Luxurious; 
wanton.—Dine with me on a single dish, to atone to 
philosophy for the sybaritic dinners of Prior-Park. War- 
burton. 
SYBILHEAD, a cape on the western coast of Ireland, in 
the county of Kerry; 8 miles west-north-west of Dingle. 
Lat. 52. 11. N. long. 10. 18. W. 
SY'CAMINE, or Sy'camore, s. [ avKoyoaot;, Gr. 
plcomop, Sax.] A tree. 
Sycamores with eglantine were spread ; 
A hedge about the sides, a covering over head. Dryden. 
SYCAMORE, a small stream of the United States, which 
enters the Ohio, in the state of Kentucky. 
SY'COPHANCY, s. The practice of an informer.—One 
that best knew it [the condition of the collectors or farmers 
of taxes] branded it with poling and sycophancy. Bp. 
Hall. —The practice of a flatterer.—The sycophancy of A. 
Philips had prejudiced Mr. Addison against Pope. War- 
burton. 
SY'COPHANT, s. [sycophanfa, Lat., <rvKo<pa.v7y$, Gr. 
from (tvkov, a fig, and <pa,wu, to shew, to denounce .] To 
export 
