swain
Use Swain in a sentence
noun
1.
a male admirer or lover.
2.
a country lad.
3.
a country gallant.
Origin:
before 1150; Middle English swein servant < Old Norse sveinn boy, servant; cognate with Old English swān
before 1150; Middle English swein servant < Old Norse sveinn boy, servant; cognate with Old English swān
Related forms
swain·ish, adjective
swain·ish·ness, noun
un·der·swain, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To swain
00:10
Swain
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
swain (sweɪn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a male lover or admirer |
| 2. | a country youth |
| [Old English swān swineherd; related to Old High German swein, Old Norse sveinn boy; see | |
| 'swainish | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
swain
c.1150, "young man attendant upon a knight," from O.N. sveinn "boy, servant, attendant," from P.Gmc. *swainaz "attendant, servant," prop. one's own (man), from PIE *swoi-no-, from base *swe- "oneself, alone, apart" (see idiom). Cognate with O.E. swan "shepherd, swineherd,"
O.S. swen, O.H.G. swein. Meaning "country or farm laborer" is from 1579; that of "lover, wooer" (in pastoral poetry) is from 1585.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Swain's team used this fortuitous orbit to study the planet's atmosphere using the star's light.
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