Part 1024

Swab"ber (?), v. t. To swab. [R.]

Swab"ber, n. [D. zwabber; cf.D. zwabberen to swab, G. schwabbern, Dan. svabre, Sw. svab a swab, svabla to swab.] 1. One who swabs a floor or desk. Shak.

2. (Naut.) Formerly, an interior officer on board of British ships of war, whose business it was to see that the ship was kept clean.

3. Same as Swobber, 2.

Swad (?), n. [Probably fr. AS. swe&?;ian to bind.] [Written also swod.] 1. A cod, or pod, as of beans or pease. [Prov. Eng.]

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

Blount.

2. A clown; a country bumpkin. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] "Country swains, and silly swads." Greene.

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

B. Jonson.

3. A lump of mass; also, a crowd. [Low, U.S.]

4. (Coal Mining) A thin layer of refuse at the bottom of a seam. Raymond.

Swad"dle (?), n. [AS. swe&?;il, swe&?;el, fr. swe&?;ain to bind. See Swathe.] Anything used to swaddle with, as a cloth or band; a swaddling band.

They put me in bed in all my swaddles.

Addison.

Swad"dle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Swaddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Swaddling (?).] 1. To bind as with a bandage; to bind or warp tightly with clothes; to swathe; -- used esp. of infants; as, to swaddle a baby.

They swaddled me up in my nightgown with long pieces of linen.

Addison.

2. To beat; to cudgel. [Obs.] Hudibras.

Swad"dle*bill` (?), n. (Zoöl.) The shoveler. [Local, U.S.]

Swad"dler (?), n. A term of contempt for an Irish Methodist. Shipley.

Swad"dling (?), a. & n. from Swaddle, v.

Swaddling band, Swaddling cloth, or Swaddling clout, a band or cloth wrapped round an infant, especially round a newborn infant.

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Luke ii. 12.

Swag (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Swagged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Swagging (?).] [Cf. Icel. sveggja, sveigja to bend, to sway, Norw. svaga to sway. See Sway.] 1. To hang or move, as something loose and heavy; to sway; to swing. [Prov. Eng.]

2. To sink down by its weight; to sag. Sir H. Wotton.

I swag as a fat person's belly swaggeth as he goeth.