▪ I. suant, n. ? Obs.
Also 7, 9 sewant.
[? Var. of sewin1.]
App. a name for certain flat fish; see quots.
| a 1609 Dennis Secrets of Angling ii. xxviii. (1613) C 7 b, To take the Sewant, yea, the Flounder sweet. Ibid. xlii. D 2 The Suant swift, that is not set by least. 1615 Markham Pleas. Princ. vi. (1635) 32 The Flounder, and Sewant are greedy biters, yet very crafty. 1847 Halliwell Dict. Sewant, the plaice. Northumb. |
▪ II. suant, a. Now dial.
(ˈsjuːənt)
Forms: 5 suante, suaunt, 6–9 sewant, 8 souant, 9 suent, 8– suant.
[a. AF. sua(u)nt, OF. suiant, sivant, pr. pple. of sivre (mod.F. suivre) to follow:—L. *sequere for sequī.]
† 1. Following, ensuing. Obs. (Cf. suing.)
| 1422 Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. xxxvii. 195 Now will I retourn to that place..in this sam maner suante. |
† 2. ? Agreeing, suitable. Obs.
| 1418–20 J. Page Siege of Rouen in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 34 Kyngys, herrowdys, and pursefauntys, In cotys of armys suauntys [v.rr. amy{supa}untis, arryauntis]. |
3. Working or proceeding regularly, evenly, smoothly, or easily; even, smooth, regular. Also advb. = suantly.
For other dial. meanings (‘placid, equable’, ‘pleasing, agreeable’, ‘demure, grave’) see Eng. Dial. Dict.
| 1547, etc. [implied in suantly]. 1605 R. Carew in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 100 By observing our wittie and sewant [printed servant] manner of deducing [words from Latin and French]. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 149 The middle-ripe barley..ripened altogether, and looked white and very suant [marg. kindly, flourishing]. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Zuant, regularly sowed. The wheat must be zown zuant. 1796 W. H. Marshall Rur. Econ. W. Eng. I. 330 Souant: fair, even, regular (a hackneyed word). 1854 N. & Q. Ser. i. X. 420 A fisherman's line is said to run through his hand suant [printed suart] when he feels no inequality or roughness, but it is equally soft and flexible throughout. 1854 Thoreau Walden (1908) 28 Yet the Middlesex Cattle Show goes off here with éclat annually, as if all the joints of the agricultural machine were suent. 1899 Baring-Gould Bk. West II. xvi. 252 Peter and his wife did not get on very ‘suant’ together. |