Part 1045

Swerve (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Swerved (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Swerving.] [OE. swerven, AS. sweorfan to wipe off, to file, to polish; akin to OFries. swerva to creep, D. zwerven to swerve, to rope, OS. swerban to wipe off, MHG. swerben to be whirled, OHG. swerban to wipe off, Icel. sverfa to file, Goth. swaírban (in comp.) to wipe, and perhaps to E. swarm. Cf. Swarm.] 1. To stray; to wander; to rope. [Obs.]

A maid thitherward did run, To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.

Sir P. Sidney.

2. To go out of a straight line; to deflect. "The point [of the sword] swerved." Sir P. Sidney.

3. To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule or duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, custom, or the like; to deviate.

I swerve not from thy commandments.

Bk. of Com. Prayer.

They swerve from the strict letter of the law.

Clarendon.

Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion.

Atterbury.

4. To bend; to incline. "The battle swerved." Milton.

5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning.

The tree was high; Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.

Dryden.

Swerve, v. t. To turn aside. Gauden.

Swe"ven (?), n. [AS. swefen sleep, dream; akin to swebban, swefian, to put to sleep, to kill. √176. See Somnolent.] A vision seen in sleep; a dream. [Obs.] Wycliff (Acts ii. 17).

I defy both sweven and dream.

Chaucer.

Swich (?), a. [See Such.] Such. [Obs.]

Swich things as that I know I will declare.

Chaucer.

||Swie*te"ni*a (?), n. [NL. Named after Gerard Van Sweiten, physician ||to Maria Theresa of Austria.] (Bot.) A genus of meliaceous trees ||consisting of one species (Sweitenia Mahogoni), the mahogany tree.

Swift (?), a. [Compar. Swifter (?); superl. Swiftest.] [AS. swift; akin to swpan to sweep, swipu a whip; cf. swfan to move quickly, to revolve. See Swoop, v. i., and cf. Swivel, Squib.] 1. Moving a great distance in a short time; moving with celerity or velocity; fleet; rapid; quick; speedy; prompt.

My beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

James i. 19.

Swift of dispatch and easy of access.

Dryden.