▪ I. swart, a. (n.) Now only rhet. or poet. (or dial.)
(swɔːt)
Forms: 1 sweart, 2 sward, 3 swært, sweort, swerd, suart, 5 swertt, 5–6 swarte, 5, 7 swert, 1– swart.
[Com. Teut.: OE. sweart, = OS., OFris. swart (NFris. sûart, EFris. suurt, WFris. swart), MLG., LG. swart, MDu. swart (Du. zwart), OHG., MHG. swarz (G. schwarz), ON. svartr (Sw. svart, Da. sort), Goth. swarts; f. root swart- ‘dark’, of which another grade is found in ON. sorta black dye, sorti black cloud, sortna to grow black, Surtr (see surturbrand).
While surviving as the regular colour-word in the Continental languages, it has been superseded in ordinary use in English by black.]
1. Dark in colour; black or blackish; dusky, swarthy. a. gen.
| Beowulf 167 (Gr.) Heorot eardode, sincfaᵹe sel sweartum nihtum. Ibid. 3145 Wudurec astah sweart. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 310 Ðeos wyrt..ys þyrnihton stelan..& bradran leafon þonne leac & sweartran. 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud), Þa wearð swiðe mycel wind fram þa undern dæies to þa swarte nihte. a 1200 Moral Ode 278 in O.E. Hom. I. 177 Nis þer neure oþer liht þanne þe swarte leie. c 1205 Lay. 11974 Swurken vnder sunnen sweorte weolcnen. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10049 Vor he vel of is palefrey & brec is fot..So suart so eni crowe amorwe is fot was. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 363 To be swolȝed swyftly wyth þe swart erþe. c 1430 Hymns Virg. etc. (1895) 119 Hitt shalle be swarte as any pyche. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 38 It is smaller, smother, and of a swarter colour. 1601 Holland Pliny xxiii. i. II. 149 Foule and unseemly swert skars, it reduceth to the fresh and naturall colour. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. i. Wks. 1856 I. 73 You horrid scouts That centinell swart night. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. iii. §6 Nor deepen those swart Tinctures, which Temper, Infirmity, or ill habits have set upon thee. 1794 Coleridge Koskiusko 4 Through the swart air..on the chill and midnight gale Rises..The dirge of murder'd Hope! 1811 Scott Don Roderick i. liii, Swart as the smoke from raging furnace. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 283 The trees upon the swart hillsides were visible..as at midday. |
b. spec. Of the skin or complexion, or of persons in respect of these.
| a 1395 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. xii, Beholde me not that I am swart [ed. 1533 blacke] for the sonne hath defaded me. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 3970 Þa swart men of ynde. c 1407 Lydg. Reason & Sens. 3791 Vulcanus..For his smotry, swarte face He stood clene out of hir grace. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 192 This king was of stature talle, somewhat swarte or black of colour. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 104 Anti. What complexion is she of? Dro. Swart like my shoo, but her face nothing like so cleane kept. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue iii. 36 The swelting coasts of swartest Abyssine. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. iv, The swart ploughman for his breakfast staid. 1634 Milton Comus 436 No goblin, or swart faëry of the mine. 1810 Shelley Solitary ii, The swart Pariah in some Indian grove. 1825 Scott Talism. xxvii, Their countenance swart with the sunbeams. 1901 E. L. Arnold Lepidus 154 This swart adventurer made love to the girl that was all in all to me. |
† c. Livid through suffering or emotion. Obs.
| a 1400 Sir Beues (S.) 1912 For teene he wexe al swert. c 1485 Digby Myst., Mary Magdalene 780, I wax alle swertt! 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. xii. (1593) 288 Al his body waxt starke cold and died swart. 1581 in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) II. 395 Who alwaies thinkes of death Shall neuer looke with cheereful face, But swarte, and wan. 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Phisic i. iii. (1639) 5 Their face is..full and pale, and their eyes are swolne and swart. |
d. quasi-adv. qualifying an adj. of colour.
In first quot. swarte is a disyllable, as if repr. OE. swearte adv.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 557 Blak blo grenyssh swarte Red. c 1530 Judic. Urines ii. xiv. 45 b, Lyke as we see whan a thyng that is swart grene. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 82 Small round beries of a swarte redde colour. 1841 Browning Pippa Passes ii. 51 An Almaign Kaiser,..Swart-green and gold, with truncheon based on hip. |
2. transf. Producing swarthiness of complexion.
Applied by Milton to some heavenly body, perhaps the dog-star (cf. Hor. Od. iii. xxiii. 9), in reference to the heat of summer; hence in echoes of Milton, sometimes in sense ‘malignant’ (cf. 3 b).
| 1637 Milton Lycidas 138 Ye valleys low..On whose fresh lap the swart Star sparely looks. 1759 Mason Caractacus, Ode ii. iii, From the sultry south alone The swart star flings his pestilential fire. 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 15 Swart planet in the universe of deeds! 1862 Trench Poems 254 (Sonnet) The swart sun's blaze Down beating with unmitigated rays. 1892 Henley Song of Sword etc. 15 From swart August to the green lap of May. |
b. Dressed in black.
Cf. MLG. swartbroder, ON. svartmunkr, etc., a Dominican, black friar.
| 1688 A. Behn Fair Jilt Plays etc. 1871 V. 206 Canonesses, Begines, Quests, Swart-Sisters, and Jesuitesses. 1856 Aytoun Bothwell ii. ix, There he stood,..Swart in the Congregation's garb. |
3. fig. a. ‘Black’, wicked, iniquitous. b. Baleful, malignant.
| a 900 Cynewulf Juliana 313 (Gr.) Wraþra fela..bealwa..sweartra synna. c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Th.) I. 54 Swa lange swa he hylt ðone sweartan nið on his heortan. a 1225 Ancr. R. 304 A domesdei schulen ure swarte sunnen bicleopen us stroncliche of ure soule murðre. 1594 Carew Tasso iv. xx. (1881) 78 Whereto booted this, if they ne mote Of these vncertaine broyles the issue cleere?.. Nor hels swart cunning could to truth direct? 1852 Rock Ch. Fathers III. ix. 222 Whenever any swart evil had betided this land. 1867 Emerson Poems, The Past 8 Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin, Nor murdering hate. |
4. Comb., as swart-coloured, swart-complexioned, swart-faced, swart-featured, swart-visaged adjs. (Cf. OE. swearthǽwen.)
| 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 67 Vnder the North pole they are browne, and *swart coloured. |
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xxviii, The *swart complexiond night. |
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. xi, A..*swart-faced knave of that noble mystery. 1905 Tuckwell Remin. Radical Parson xii. 181 A great gathering of swart-faced enthusiasts in the Black Country. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iv. iv, So many *swart-featured haggard faces. |
| 1858 O. W. Holmes ‘This is it’ 57 in Aut. Breakf.-t. ii, Bare-armed, *swart-visaged, gaunt, and shaggy-browed. |
† B. n. A person of swarthy complexion; in quot. c 1425 fig. as a term of reproach. Obs. rare.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 2211 in Macro Plays 143 Charyte, þat sowre swart, with fayre rosys myn hed gan breke. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Swarts, a name formerly applied by voyagers to Indians and negroes. |
▪ II. † swart, v. Obs.
[f. swart a. In OE. sweartian, corresp. to MLG. swarten, also swerten, OHG. suarzên, MHG. swarzen, also OHG. suarz(i)an, suerzen, MHG. swerzen (G. schwärzen); cf. ON. svartaðr dyed black.]
1. intr. To become swart, dark, or dusky.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xviii. 151 Efne ða aras se wind and ða wolcnu sweartodon. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 104 Þanne sweartiᵹeð hy [sc. the teeth] & fealleð. |
| 1581 A. Hall Iliad v. 86 Hir colour gay So bright that was, beginnes to swarte. |
2. trans. To make swart; to darken (esp. the skin or complexion).
| 1577 Grange Golden Aphrod. N j, Vulcane beyng..swarted with the..smoke of his forge. 1614 Gorges Lucan vi. 217 The skinne it scorching swarts. 1628 Brittain's Ida in Spenser's Wks. (1862) 502/2 Jove upon him downe his thunder darted, Blasting his splendent face, and all his beauty swarted. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. x. 326 The heate of the Sun, whose fervor may swarte a living part, and even black a dead or dissolving flesh. |
▪ III. swart
obs. form of sward.