different between sward vs swad

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sward, swerd, swarth, from Old English sweard (“skin, rind”), from Proto-Germanic *swarduz.

Alternative forms

• swarth, swart, swerd

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sw??(?)d/
• Rhymes: -??(r)d

Noun

sward (countable and uncountable, plural swards)

1. (uncountable) A layer of earth into which grass has grown; turf; sod.

   • The sward was trim as any garden lawn.

2. (countable) An expanse of land covered in grass; a lawn or meadow.
   • 1890, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company

     […] the trees began to thin and the sward to spread out onto a broad, green lawn, where five cows lay in the sunshine […].

   • 1918, Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons

     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. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Skin; covering.
   • c. 1440, Geoffrey the Grammarian, Promptorium parvulorum, Halliwell

     Swarde or sworde of flesche

Synonyms

• (earth into which grass has grown): grass, turf, sod
• (land covered with grass): clearing, field, greensward, lawn, meadow, yard

Derived terms

• greensward

Translations

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To cover with sward.

References

Etymology 2

Noun

sward (plural swards)

1. (Philippines) A homosexual man.

Derived terms

• swardspeak

Anagrams

• -wards, draws, wards

Middle English

Alternative forms

• swerd, swerde, swarde, swarthe, swarth, suarth

Etymology

From Old English sweard, from Proto-Germanic *swarduz; compare Old Norse sv?rðr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sward/, /?swar?/, /?sw?rd/

Noun

sward

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

Descendants

• English: sward
• Scots: swaird

References

• “sward, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-23.

English

Alternative forms

• swod

Etymology

Related to swaddle?

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sw?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Noun

swad (plural swads)

1. A bunch, clump, mass
2. (obsolete, slang) A crowd; a group of people.
3. (obsolete) A boor, lout.
   • 1591, unknown author, The Troublesome Reign of King John, scene 2

     Sham’st thou not coistrel, loathsome dunghill swad.

   • 1633, Ben Jonson, A Tale of a Tub

     There was one busy fellow was their leader, / A blunt, squat swad, but lower than yourself.

   • 1588, Robert Greene, Perimedes

     Country swains, and silly swads.

4. (mining) A thin layer of refuse at the bottom of a seam.
5. (Britain, dialect, obsolete, Northern) A cod, or pod, as of beans or peas.
   • 1656, Thomas Blount, Glossographia

     Swad, in the north, is a peascod shell — thence used for an empty, shallow-headed fellow.

References

Synonyms

• (bunch, clump): bunch, clump, mass

References

• WordNet 3.0 (2006, Princeton University); “swad” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• AWDS, AWDs, DAWs, Daws, WASD, daws, wads

Middle English

Noun

swad

1. Alternative form of swathe (“swath”)