View source for sward

{{also|Sward}}
==English==
{{was wotd|2021|September|24}}

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|en|/swɔːd/|a=RP}}
* {{audio|en|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sward.wav|a=Southern England}}
* {{IPA|en|/swɔɹd/|a=GA}}
* {{rhymes|en|ɔː(ɹ)d|s=1}}

===Etymology 1===
[[File:US Navy 100910-N-9712C-003 quipment Operator 2nd Class Lucas Singletary and Builder 1st Class William Carrier lay down sod at a Habitat for Humanit.jpg|thumb|{{w|United States Navy}} [[soldier#Noun|soldiers]] [[lay#Verb|laying]] down [[piece#Noun|pieces]] of sward ''(sense 1)'' or [[sod#Noun|sod]] for a {{w|Habitat for Humanity}} [[project#Noun|project]] to [[build#Verb|build]] [[home#Noun|homes]] in [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], USA.]]

The {{glossary|noun}} is derived from {{inh|en|enm|sward|t=rind; skin; calloused skin; leather strap; sod, turf}}{{nb...|sard, sart, sarth, sarthe, suerd, swad, swarde, swarffe, swarth, swarthe, swerd, swerde, sworde, sworte|otherforms=1}}, from {{inh|en|ang|sweard}}, {{m|ang|swearð|t=rind; skin}},<ref>{{R:MED Online|pos=n|id=MED44067}}</ref> from {{inh|en|gem-pro|*swarduz|t=rind; tough skin; turf}}; further etymology unknown.<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=n|id=195478|date=June 2021|nodot=1}}; {{R:Lexico|pos=n}}</ref>

The {{glossary|verb}} is derived from the noun.<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=v|id=195479|date=March 2021}}</ref>

====Noun====
{{en-noun|~}}

# {{lb|en|uncountable}} [[earth#Noun|Earth]] which [[grass#Noun|grass]] has [[grow]]n into the [[upper#Adjective|upper]] [[layer#Noun|layer]] of; [[greensward]], [[sod#Noun|sod]], [[turf#Noun|turf]]; {{lb|en|countable}} a [[portion#Noun|portion]] of such earth.
#* {{RQ:Milton Paradise Lost|book=X|page=314|lines=429–433|passage=His eyes he op'nd, and beheld a field, / Part arable and tilth, whereon were Sheaves / New reapt, the other part ſheep-walks and foulds; / Ith' midſt an Altar as the Land-mark ſtood / Ruſtic, of graſſie '''ſord'''; {{...}}|year=1873}}
#* {{RQ:Tennyson Poems 1833|poem=Oenone|stanza=I|page=51|passage=There is a dale in Ida, lovelier / Than any in old Ionia, beautiful / With emerald slopes of sunny '''sward''', that lean / Above the loud glenriver, which hath worn / A path thro' steepdown granite walls below / Mantled with flowering tendriltwine.}}
#* {{RQ:Bulwer-Lytton Ernest Maltravers|volume=I|chapter=XIII|pages=125–126|pageref=125|passage=The road wound through the greenest '''sward''', in which trees of venerable growth were relieved by a profusion of shrubs, and flowers gathered into baskets intertwined with creepers, or blooming from Etruscan vases, placed with a tasteful and classic care, in such spots as required ''filling up'', and harmonised well with the object chosen.}}
#* {{RQ:Bulwer-Lytton Last of the Barons|edition=1st|volume=I|chapter=Earl Warwick, the King-maker|page=172|passage=[F]or garden it was called, though consisting but of plots of '''sward''', bordered by fruit trees, and white rose trees not yet in blossom, {{...}}}}
#* {{RQ:Tennyson Princess|page=5|passage=And long we gazed, but satiated at length / Came to the ruins. High-arch'd and ivy-claspt, / Of finest Gothic, lighter than a fire, / Thro' one wide chasm of time and frost they gave / The park, the crowd, the house; but all within / The '''sward''' was trim as any garden lawn: {{...}}}}
# {{lb|en|countable}} An [[expanse]] of [[land#Noun|land]] [[cover#Verb|covered]] in grass; a [[lawn]] or [[meadow]].
#: {{synonyms|en|field}}
#* {{RQ:Jefferies Amateur Poacher|chapter=The First Gun|pages=9–10|pageref=9|passage=It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the '''sward''' behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.}}
#* {{RQ:Doyle White Company|chapter=How Strange Things Befell in Minstead Wood|page=105|passage=[O]f a sudden the trees began to thin and the '''sward''' to spread out onto a broad, green lawn, where five cows lay in the sunshine and droves of black swine wandered unchecked.}}
#* {{RQ:Tarkington Magnificent Ambersons|chapter=XIII|page=197|passage=Only where George stood was there left a '''sward''' as of yore; the great, level, green lawn that served for both the Major's house and his daughter's.}}
# {{lb|en|countable|obsolete}} The upper layer of the [[ground#Noun|ground]], especially when [[vegetation]] is growing on it.
#* {{RQ:Pliny Holland Historie of the World|tome=1|book=XVI|chapter=Of the Boughs, Barke, and Roots of Trees|page=477|passage=The roots of the Apple-tree, Olive, and Cypreſſe, lie very ebbe, and creepe hard under the '''ſourd''' of the ground.}}
# {{lb|en|countable|obsolete|except|Britain|dialectal}} The [[rind]] of [[bacon]] or [[pork]]; also, the [[outer]] [[covering#Noun|covering]] or [[skin#Noun|skin]] of something.

=====Alternative forms=====
* {{alter|en|swarth|swart|swerd}}

=====Derived terms=====
* {{l|en|greensward}}
* {{l|en|swardy}} {{qualifier|archaic}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|earth into the upper layer of which grass has grown; portion of such earth; sod; turf}}
* Bulgarian: {{t|bg|чим|m}}
* French: {{t+|fr|gazon|m}}
* Hungarian: {{t+|hu|tarló}}
* Italian: {{t+|it|erba|f}}, {{t+|it|zolla|f}}
* Polish: {{t+|pl|darń|f}}
* Romanian: {{t+|ro|gazon|n}}, {{t+|ro|iarbă}}, {{t+|ro|pajiște}}
* Russian: {{t+|ru|дёрн|m}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|expanse of land covered in grass; lawn, meadow}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|морава|f}}
* French: {{t+|fr|pelouse|f}}
* Hungarian: {{t+|hu|mező}}, {{t+|hu|kaszáló}}
* Irish: {{t|ga|báinseach|f}}
* Italian: {{t+|it|prato|m}}
* Romanian: {{t+|ro|iarbă|f}}
* Russian: {{t+|ru|газо́н|m}}, {{t+|ru|луг|m}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-see|rind of bacon or pork|bacon rind|pork rind}}

{{trans-top|outer covering or skin of something}}
{{trans-bottom}}

====Verb====
{{en-verb}}

# {{lb|en|transitive}} To [[cover#Verb|cover]] ([[ground#Noun|ground]], etc.) with [[sward#Noun|sward]].
# {{lb|en|intransitive}} Of ground, etc.: to be covered with sward; to [[develop]] a [[covering#Noun|covering]] of sward.
#* '''1644''', Gabriel Plattes, in a letter in ''Hartlib's Legacy'' (1655), page 236:
#*: [Land...] will not '''sward''' again {{...}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=1765|author=Thomas Hamilton Haddington|title=A Short Treatise on Forest-trees|page=45
|passage={{...}} for the ground immediately after corn is many years before it '''swards''', and {{...}}}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=1891|author=Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors|title=Professional Notes|volume=5|page=256
|passage=... with soil of a similar character, several fields have been laid down and ploughed up again under the old plea that they will not '''sward'''.}}

=====Derived terms=====
* {{l|en|swarded|pos=adjective}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|to cover (ground, etc.) with sward}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|затревявам}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|of ground, etc.: to be covered with sward; to develop a covering of sward}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Etymology 2===
From a {{blend|en|sword|pardner|nocap=1}}.<ref>{{R:Tagalog Slang Dictionary|135}}</ref>

====Noun====
{{en-noun}}

# {{lb|en|Philippines}} A [[homosexual]] [[man]].
#: {{synonyms|en|Thesaurus:male homosexual}}

=====Derived terms=====
* {{l|en|swardspeak}}

===References===
<references/>

===Further reading===
* {{R:Halliwell Dictionary|page=833|column=2}}
* {{R:English Dialect Dictionary|pos=''sb.''{{sup|1}}|noformat=1|pages=866–867|pageref=866}}
* {{R:Online Etymology Dictionary}}

===Anagrams===
* {{anagrams|en|a=adrsw|-wards|draws|wards}}

==Middle English==

===Alternative forms===
* {{alter|enm|swerd|swerde|swarde|swarthe|swarth|suarth}}

===Etymology===
From {{inh|enm|ang|sweard}}, from {{der|enm|gem-pro|*swarduz}}; compare {{cog|non|svǫrðr}}.

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|enm|/ˈsward/|/ˈswarθ/|/ˈswɛrd/}}

===Noun===
{{head|enm|noun}}

# {{l|en|sward|Sward}}: a location where grass exists.
# {{lb|enm|late ME}} Skin, especially that on meat.
# {{l|en|sward|Sward}}: The [[rind]] of [[bacon]] or [[pork]]; also, the [[outer]] [[covering#Noun|covering]] or [[skin#Noun|skin]] of something.
#* {{RQ:Promptorium parvulorum|entry=Swarde|page=482|column=1|passage='''{{smallcaps|Swarde}}''' or '''sworde''' of flesche ('''swad''' or '''swarde''', s.) ''Coriana.''|brackets=on}}

====Descendants====
* {{desc|en|sward}}
* {{desc|sco|swaird}}

====References====
* {{R:MED Online|entry=sward |pos=n|id=MED44067 |accessdate=2018-06-23}}

{{C|enm|Anatomy|Animal body parts}}