sward

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See also: Sward

English

WOTD – 24 September 2021

Etymology 1

United States Navy soldiers laying down pieces of sward (sense 1) or sod for a Habitat for Humanity project to build homes in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

The noun is derived from Middle English sward (“rind; skin; calloused skin; leather strap; sod, turf”) [and other forms], from Old English sweard, swearð (“rind; skin”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *swarduz (“rind; tough skin; turf”); further etymology unknown.[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /swɔːd/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /swɔɹd/
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(r)d

Noun

sward (countable and uncountable, plural swards)

  1. (uncountable) Earth into the upper layer of which grass has grown; greensward, sod, turf; (countable) a portion of such earth.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, lines 429–433:
      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; […]
    • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “Œnone”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 51:
      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.
    • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Prologue”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 5:
      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: […]
  2. (countable) An expanse of land covered in grass; a lawn or meadow.
    Synonym: field
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 9–10:
      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.
    • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “How Strange Things Befell in Minstead Wood”, in The White Company, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC, page 105:
      [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.
    • 1918, Booth Tarkington, chapter XIII, in The Magnificent Ambersons, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 197:
      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.
  3. (countable, obsolete)
    1. The upper layer of the ground, especially when vegetation is growing on it.
    2. (except British, dialectal) The rind of bacon or pork; also, the outer covering or skin of something.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations

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Verb

sward (third-person singular simple present swards, present participle swarding, simple past and past participle swarded)

  1. (transitive) To cover (ground, etc.) with sward.
  2. (intransitive) Of ground, etc.: to be covered with sward.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

sward (plural swards)

  1. (Philippines) A homosexual man.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:male homosexual
Derived terms

References

  1. ^ “sward, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “sward, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “sward, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “sward, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021.

Further reading

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English sweard, from Proto-Germanic *swarduz; compare Old Norse svǫrðr.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsward/, /ˈswarθ/, /ˈswɛrd/

Noun

sward

  1. Sward; a location where grass exists.
  2. (Late Middle English) Skin, especially that on meat.

Descendants

  • English: sward
  • Scots: swaird

References

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