different between sway vs swad

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws

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”)