sway
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United States//ˈsweɪ̯//
- Australia//ˈswæ̝ɪ̯//
- //ˈswe̞(ː)//
The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
noun
- 1
The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
- 2
A rocking or swinging motion.
The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.
- 3
Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
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.
- 4
Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
- 5
Rule; dominion; control; power.
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.
- 6
A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
- 7
The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.
- 8
Synonym of sweet flag (“Acorus calamus”)
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.
verb
- 1
To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.
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
- 2
To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
to sway the sceptre
As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly, / When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid
- 3
To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.
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.
- 4
To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; to warp.
reeds swayed by the wind
judgment swayed by passion
Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.
- 5
To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.
to sway up the yards
- 6
To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
euen in these Personall Respects, the Ballance swayes on our part: […]
- 7
To have weight or influence.
The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.
- 8
To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
Hadst thou swayed as kings should do.
Forms
- plural
- sways
- past tense
- swayed
- past participle
- swayed
- present participle
- swaying
- third person singular
- sways
sway · The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
Sway · A village and civil parish in New Forest district, Hampshire,…swear · To take an oath, to promise intensely, solemnly, and/or with…swearing · The act of swearing, or making an oath.