sway
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: automotive
nautical
transport
vehicles
Etymology: From earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old English *swǣġan (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-West Germanic *swaigijan, from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁-
See also Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”); also Lithuanian svai̇̃gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬱𐬑𐬎𐬀𐬑𐬙𐬀 (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit स्वजते (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).
The noun derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: sways
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: sways
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swaying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swayed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: swayed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A rocking or swinging motion.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.
gloss: Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I doubt I'll hold much sway with someone so powerful.
Though both Mr. Knight and Mr. Hennessey view themselves as traders first, the “finfluencer” culture has flourished with the surge in online interest, and they have considerable sway.
[…] the slowly dawning realisation that, as the billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz put it, they have “no sway” over what they unleashed.
gloss: Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Rule; dominion; control; power.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Prospero:[…]Confederates / (ſo drie he was for Sway) with King of Naples / To giue him Annuall tribute, doe him homage / Subiect his Coronet, to his Crowne and bend / The Dukedom yet vnbow'd (alas poore Millaine) / To moſt ignoble ſtooping.
Prayuth's return as prime minister takes Thailand back to 1980s. Military still holds sway in a democracy that has yet to mature.
gloss: A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Synonym of sweet flag (“Acorus calamus”)
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: sway to the music
The trees swayed in the breeze.
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.
The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways / Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
gloss: To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to sway the sceptre
As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly, / When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid
gloss: To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Do you think you can sway their decision?
This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
After all this time […] the woman who endured all that by focusing on her hit list can be swayed from her course by the prospect of her family and her home.
gloss: To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; to warp.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: reeds swayed by the wind
judgment swayed by passion
Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.
gloss: To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to sway up the yards
gloss: To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
pos: verb
examples: euen in these Personall Respects, the Ballance swayes on our part: […]
gloss: To have weight or influence.
pos: verb
examples: The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.
gloss: To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
pos: verb
examples: Hadst thou swayed as kings should do.
Synonyms: careen
rock
sway
waver
play
Related words: persuade
shake
Derived words: antisway
anti-sway bar
hold sway
sway-backed
sway bar
sway-bracing
swayless
swaymeter
windsway
countersway
swayful
asway
missway
oversway
swayable
swayback
swayer
swayingly
sweight
unswayed
unswaying
upsway
Translations: