different between gain vs swag

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagn?, *gagan? (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain, advantage, use”), Swedish gagn (“benefit, profit”), Danish gavn (“gain, profit, success”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gageigan, “to gain, profit”), Old Norse gegn (“ready”), dialectal Swedish gen (“useful, noteful”), Latin cum (“with”); see gain-, again, against. Compare also Middle English gaynen, geinen (“to be of use, profit, avail”), Icelandic and Swedish gagna (“to avail, help”), Danish gavne (“to benefit”).

The Middle English word was reinforced by Middle French gain (“gain, profit, advancement, cultivation”), from Old French gaaing, gaaigne, gaigne, a noun derivative of gaaignier (“to till, earn, win”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to pasture, graze, hunt for food”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþ?, *waiþij? (“pasture, field, hunting ground”); compare Old High German weid?n, weidan?n (“to hunt, forage for food”) (Modern German Weide (“pasture”)), Old Norse veiða (“to catch, hunt”), Old English w?þan (“to hunt, chase, pursue”). Related to wathe, wide.

Verb

gain (third-person singular simple present gains, present participle gaining, simple past and past participle gained)

1. (transitive) To acquire possession of.

   Looks like you've gained a new friend.
2. (intransitive) To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.

   The sick man gains daily.
3. (transitive, dated) To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.

   to gain a battle; to gain a case at law

4. (transitive) To increase.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.

5. (intransitive) To be more likely to catch or overtake an individual.

   I'm gaining (on you).

   gain ground

6. (transitive) To reach.

   to gain the top of a mountain

   • 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel:

     Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.

7. To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate.

   • If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

   • to gratify the queen, and gain the court

8. (intransitive) To put on weight.

   I've been gaining.

10. (of a clock or watch) To run fast.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

gain (countable and uncountable, plural gains)

1. The act of gaining; acquisition.
   • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, Maude

     the lust of gain, in the spirit of Cain

2. What is gained.
3. (electronics) The factor by which a signal is multiplied.
   • 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)

     There follows the high and low-frequency replay equalization, which normally involves two adjustments with a further control allowing the replay gain to be set.

Antonyms

• loss

Derived terms

• autogain
• gainful
• gainsome
• gain-ground (game)

Translations

Etymology 2

From dialectal English gen, gin, short for again, agen (“against”); also Middle English gain, gayn, gein, ?æn (“against”), from Old English g?an, ge?n (“against”). More at against.

Preposition

gain

1. (obsolete) Against.

Derived terms

• gainful

Etymology 3

From Middle English gayn, gein, geyn (“straight, direct, short, fit, good”), from Old Norse gegn (“straight, direct, short, ready, serviceable, kindly”), from gegn (“opposite, against”, adverb) (whence gagna (“to go against, meet, suit, be meet”)); see below at gain. Adverb from Middle English gayn, gayne (“fitly, quickly”), from the adjective.

Adjective

gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)

1. (obsolete) Straight, direct; near; short.

   the gainest way

2. (obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
3. (dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
4. (dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.

Translations

Derived terms

• gainly
• gainsome

Adverb

gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)

1. (obsolete) Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
2. (dialectal) Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
3. (dialectal) Tolerably; fairly.

   gain quiet (= fairly/pretty quiet)

Etymology 4

Compare Welsh gan (“a mortise”).

Noun

gain (plural gains)

1. (architecture) A square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam.

Anagrams

• Agin, Agni, Angi, Gina, NGIA, Nagi, Ngai, a- -ing, ag'in, agin, gina, inga

Basque

Noun

gain

1. summit

French

Etymology

From Middle French gain, from Old French gaaing, from the verb gaaignier (“to earn, gain, seize, conquer by force”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to graze, forage, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *waiþ? (“a hunt, pasture, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyh?- (“to seek, crave, hunt”). Cognate with Old High German weidan?n (“to hunt, chase”), German Weide (“pasture, pasturage”). Compare also related Old French gain (“harvest time, revival”), from Frankish *waida (“income, food, fodder”) (whence French regain), from the same Germanic source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Noun

gain m (plural gains)

1. (usually in the plural) winnings, earnings, takings
2. (finance) gain, yield

Derived terms

• gain de cause
• gain du temps

Further reading

• “gain” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French gagner (“to gain”), compare Haitian Creole gen.

Verb

gain

1. to have

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old Norse gegn.

Adjective

gain

1. Alternative form of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”)

Etymology 2

From Old Norse gagn.

Noun

gain

1. Alternative form of gayn (“gain, reward, advantage”)

Etymology 3

From Old Norse gegna.

Verb

gain

1. Alternative form of gaynen

Etymology 4

From Old English ?e?n, gæ?n, from Proto-Germanic *gagin; also influenced by Old Norse gegn, from the same Proto-Germanic form. Doublet of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”).

Alternative forms

• gayn, gein, ?æn, ?ein, ?ean, gayne, gen, gan, gaine, geyn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?n/, /?e?n/, /j?i?n/, /je?n/

Preposition

gain

2. against, next to, touching
3. (figuratively) against, opposed to, counter to, opposing (usually used in religious and spiritual contexts)
4. towards, to, nearing
5. (rare) on, on top of
6. (rare) facing, pointed towards

Descendants

• English: gain (obsolete)
• Scots: gain, gin

References

• “y??n, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Adverb

gain

1. back (to), returning (to)

References

• “y??n, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French gaaing.

Noun

gain m (plural gains)

1. income (financial)

Descendants

• French: gain

References

• gain on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ai?n/

Adjective

gain

1. Soft mutation of cain.

Mutation

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /swæ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

From Middle English *swaggen, swagen, swoggen, probably from Old Norse sveggja (“to swing, sway”). Compare dialectal Norwegian svaga (“to sway, swing, stagger”).

Verb

swag (third-person singular simple present swags, present participle swagging, simple past and past participle swagged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) sway.

   Synonyms: sway, lurch
2. (intransitive) To droop; to sag.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir H. Wotton to this entry?)

   • 1530, John Palsgrave, L'esclarcissement de la langue francoyse

     I swagge as a fatte persos belly swaggeth as he goth.

3. (transitive) To decorate (something) with loops of draped fabric.
4. (transitive) To install (a ceiling fan or light fixture) by means of a long cord running from the ceiling to an outlet, and suspended by hooks or similar.
   • 1991, Kalton C. Lahue, Cheryl Smith, Interior Lighting (page 19)

     Hooks come with screws for use in plaster or wood and toggles for use in wallboard. One hook should be sufficient to swag a lamp from a ceiling outlet.

Noun

swag (plural swags)

1. (window coverings) A loop of draped fabric.
   • 2005, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 438:

     He looked in bewilderment at number 24, the final house with its regalia of stucco swags and bows.

2. A low point or depression in land; especially, a place where water collects.
   • 1902, D. G. Simmons, "The Influence of Contaminated Water in the Development of Diseases", The American Practitioner and News, 34: 182.

     Whenever the muddy water would accumulate in the swag the water from the well in question would become muddy […] After the water in the swag had all disappeared through the sink-hole the well water would again become clear.

Derived terms

• swagger

Etymology 2

Clipping of swagger. A common pseudo-etymology is the derivation as acronym for “secretly we are gay”, or other unlikely phrases.

Noun

swag (uncountable)

1. (slang) Style; fashionable appearance or manner.
   • 2009, Mark Anthony Archer, Exile, page 119

     Now this dude got swag, and he was pushing up on me but, it wasn't like we was kicking it or anything!

Derived terms

• swag it out

Etymology 3

From 18th c. British thieves' slang.

Noun

swag (plural swags)

1. (obsolete, thieves' cant) A shop and its goods; any quantity of goods. [18th c.]

   Synonym: stock

2. (thieves' cant, uncountable) Stolen goods; the booty of a burglar or thief; boodle. [18th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:booty

   • 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, Chapter 19:

     “It?s all arranged about bringing off the swag, is it?” asked the Jew. Sikes nodded.

   • 1971 November 22, Frank E. Emerson, “They Can Get It For You BETTER Than Wholesale”, New York Magazine, page 38

     He was on his way to call on other dealers to check out their swag and to see if he could trade away some of his leftover odds and ends.

4. (uncountable) Handouts, freebies, or giveaways, such as those handed out at conventions. [late 20th c.]
5. (countable, Australia, dated) The possessions of a bushman or itinerant worker, tied up in a blanket and carried over the shoulder, sometimes attached to a stick.
6. (countable, Australia, by extension) A small single-person tent, usually foldable into an integral backpack.
7. (countable, Australia, New Zealand) A large quantity (of something).
   • 2010 August 31, "Hockey: Black Sticks lose World Cup opener", The New Zealand Herald:

     New Zealand wasted a swag of chances to lose their opening women?s hockey World Cup match.

Derived terms

• swagful, swagless
• (shop): rum swag, swag barrow
• (stolen goods): swag bag, swag chovey bloke, swagsman (“fence”)
• (itinerant's belongings): swagman

Verb

swag (third-person singular simple present swags, present participle swagging, simple past and past participle swagged)

1. (Australia, transitive, intransitive) To travel on foot carrying a swag (possessions tied in a blanket). [From 1850s.]
   • 1880, James Coutts Crawford, Recollections of Travel in New Zealand and Australia, page 259,

     He told me that times had been bad at Invercargill, and that he had started for fresh pastures, had worked his passage up as mate in a small craft from the south, and, arriving in Port Underwood, had swagged his calico tent over the hill, and was now living in it, pitched in the manuka scrub.

   • 1976, Pembroke Arts Club, The Anglo-Welsh Review, page 158,

     That such a man was swagging in the Victoria Bush at the age of fifty-one requires explanation.

   • 2006, Inga Clendinnen, The History Question: Who Owns the Past?, Quarterly Essay, Issue 23, page 3,

     The plot is straightforward. A swagman is settling down by a billabong after a hard day?s swagging.

   • 2011, Penelope Debelle, Red Silk: The Life of Elliott Johnston QC, page 21,

     Over the Christmas of 1939, just three months after Britain and Australia had declared war on Germany, they went swagging together for a week and slept out under the stars in the Adelaide Hills, talking, walking and reading.

2. To transport stolen goods.

Derived terms

• swaggie
• swagman
• swag it

Translations

Etymology 4

Noun

swag (plural swags)

1. Alternative letter-case form of SWAG; a wild guess or ballpark estimate.

   I can take a swag at the answer, but it may not be right.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• AWGs, GWAS, WAGs, wags

Old Frisian

Etymology

From a word referring to the fence around a pasture; cf. Old Norse sveigr (“supple branch, headkerchief”), ultimately from a root meaning to bend or twist.

Noun

sw?g f

1. pasture

Descendants

• Dutch: Zwaag
• Frisian: sweach, swaech

Further reading

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010) , “zwaag”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute