Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Related Searches
on Ask.com
Synonyms
Nearby Entries
swain - 4 dictionary results

swain

  [sweyn] ,
Use swain in a Sentence
–noun
1. a male admirer or lover.
2. a country lad.
3. a country gallant.
Origin:
bef. 1150; ME swein servant < ON sveinn boy, servant; c. OE swān

Related forms:
swainish, adjective
swain⋅ish⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To swain
swain   (swān)   
n.  
  1. A country lad, especially a young shepherd.
  2. A beau.

[Middle English, young man, servant, from Old Norse sveinn; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Swain

Swain\, n. [OE. swain, swein, Icel. sveinn a boy, servant; akin to Sw. sven, Dan. svend, AS. sw[=a]n, OHG. swein.]

1. A servant. [Obs.]

Him behoves serve himself that has no swain. --Chaucer.

2. A young man dwelling in the country; a rustic; esp., a cuntry gallant or lover; -- chiefly in poetry.

It were a happy life To be no better than a homely swain. --Shak.

Blest swains! whose nymphs in every grace excel. --Pope.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source

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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see swain on Thesaurus | Reference