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swine - 7 dictionary results

swine

[swahyn] ,
–noun, plural swine.
1. any stout, cloven-hoofed artiodactyl of the Old World family Suidae, having a thick hide sparsely covered with coarse hair, a disklike snout, and an often short, tasseled tail: now of worldwide distribution and hunted or raised for its meat and other products. Compare hog, pig, wild boar.
2. the domestic hog, Sus scrofa.
3. a coarse, gross, or brutishly sensual person.
4. a contemptible person.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE swīn; c. G Schwein hog, L suīnus (adj.) porcine; akin to sow 2


swinelike, adjective
swine   (swīn)   
n.   pl. swine
  1. Any of various omnivorous, even-toed ungulates of the family Suidae, including pigs, hogs, and boars, having a stout body with thick skin, a short neck, and a movable snout.
  2. A person regarded as brutish or contemptible.

[Middle English, from Old English swīn; see sū- in Indo-European roots.]

Swine

Swine\, n.sing. & pl. [OE. swin, AS. sw[=i]n; akin to OFries. & OS. swin, D. zwijn, G. schwein, OHG. sw[=i]n, Icel. sv[=i]n, Sw. svin, Dan. sviin, Goth. swein; originally a diminutive corresponding to E. sow. See Sow, n.] (Zo["o]l.) Any animal of the hog kind, especially one of the domestical species. Swine secrete a large amount of subcutaneous fat, which, when extracted, is known as lard. The male is specifically called boar, the female, sow, and the young, pig. See Hog. "A great herd of swine." --Mark v. 11.

Swine grass (Bot.), knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare); -- so called because eaten by swine.

Swine oat (Bot.), a kind of oat sometimes grown for swine.

Swine's cress (Bot.), a species of cress of the genus Senebiera (S. Coronopus).

Swine's head, a dolt; a blockhead. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Swine thistle (Bot.), the sow thistle.
Language Translation for : swine
Spanish: cerdo,
German: das Schwein,
Japanese:

swine 
O.E. swin "pig, hog," from P.Gmc. *swinan (cf. O.S., O.Fris. M.L.G., O.H.G. swin, M.Du. swijn, Du. zwijn, Ger. Schwein), neut. adj. (with suffix *-ino-) from PIE *su- (see sow (n.)). The native word, largely ousted by pig. Applied to persons from c.1380. Swineherd is recorded from c.1100 as swynhyrde; swinish is from c.1200. Phrase pearls before swine is from Matt. vii.6; an early Eng. formation of it was:
"Ne ge ne wurpen eowre meregrotu toforan eo wrum swynon." [c.1000]
Which is a misreading of L. marguerite "daisy" as margarite "pearl."

Main Entry: swine
Pronunciation: 'swIn
Function: noun
: any of various stout-bodied short-legged mammals (family Suidae) with a thick bristly skin and a longmobile snout; especially : a domesticated member of a species (Sus scrofa) that occurs wild in the Old World

Swine

(Heb. hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev. 11:7; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33). Spoken of figuratively in Matt. 7:6 (see Prov. 11:22). It is frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the marshes of the Jordan valley (Ps. 80:13).

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