▪ I. swound, n. Now arch. and dial.
(swaʊnd)
Forms: 5 swownyd, 5–7 swounde, 6–7 swownd, 7–8 swond, 7 (9 dial.) swoond, 6– swound.
[Later form of swoune, swoon, with excrescent d.]
A fainting-fit; = swoon n. 1 b.
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 460 He was so flayed he was like hafe dyed, & fell in a swownyd [sic MS.]. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. xxii. 838 Syr Gauwayn synked doun vpon hys one syde in a swounde. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. vii. 9 When she lookt about, and nothing found But darknesse and dread horrour,..She almost fell againe into a swound. 1615 Hieron Wks. I. 597 As when one is in a swond or a sleepe. c 1645 Howell Lett. v. 38 My Lord of Sunderland..got a bruise..which put him in a swound. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. i. 537 His Spirits are so low, his Voice is drown'd, He hears as from afar, or in a Swound. 1709 in Law's Mem. (1818) 245 note, She immediately fell into a swond for a considerable time. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. xxii, It flung the blood into my head, And I fell down in a swound. 1856 Aytoun Bothwell ii. vi, I wakened in the Hermitage Up from my heavy swound [rime wound]. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn i. Finale 7 The Landlord stirred, As one awakening from a swound. 1897 Stevenson St. Ives (1898) 165, I believe I nearly went off into a swound. |
| fig. 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinvile (Arb.) 73 The bellowing shotte which wakened dead mens swounds. 1600 Breton Pasquil's Fooles-Cap Wks. (Grosart) I. 25/1 While healthfull spirits fall into a swound. 1602 Dekker Satirom. K j, I Wish..that..Time, Were in a swound; and all his little Houres, Could neuer lift him vp with their poore powers. 1624 Quarles Sion's Sonn. Poems (1717) 346 My Faith fell in a swound. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. vii. (1647) 241 They feared if Abbeys were only left in a swound, the Pope would soon get hot water to recover them. 1691 E. Taylor Behmen's Theos. Philos. viii. 9 As the life lies in a swound in vegetables till revived by the return of the spring. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam ix. xi, A visioned swound, A pause of hope and awe the City bound. |
b. without article: = swoon n. 1 a. rare.
| 1880 W. Watson Prince's Quest (1892) 61 Long time the Prince was held in swound. |
▪ II. swound, v. Now arch. and dial.
(swaʊnd)
Also 6–7 swounde, swond, 7 (9 dial.) swoond.
[See prec.]
intr. To swoon, faint.
| 1530 Palsgr. 745/2, I swounde, je me espaume. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) II. 1031/1 In the tyme of his tormentyng he swonded [ed. 1576 swounded]. 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Phisick i. xv. (1639) 23 Take heed you let him not bleed until he swond. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xl. 159, I and my fellows were ready to swoond for very astonishment. 1685 R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. ii. 35 They instantly swounded away for want of Air. 1821 W. Gifford in Smiles Mem. J. Murray (1891) II. xxi. 55, I thought..that both the damsels would have swounded. 1873 J. Spilling Molly Miggs, etc. (1903) 22, I wor that terrified that I fell down..and swounded right off. |
| fig. 1603 Dekker Wonderful Year C j b, (Our fruitfull souereigne) Iames, at whose dread name Rebellion swounded. |
Hence ˈswounding vbl. n. (also attrib.) and ppl. a.
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 307 The swondyng of the Prior before the kyng. 1597 Breton Auspicante Jehoua Wks. (Grosart) II. 6/1 Ouercome with the comfort of Thy vnspeakable kindenes, in the swounding traunce of the treasure of Thy loue. 1615 ― Characters vpon Ess., Loue, In the swounding delight of his sacred Inspiration. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 253 Light faintings, desperate swoondings. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 337 Those who feared that the Suns swounding did foretoken the world's end. 1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 17 She fell into divers fits of swounding. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 394 Motherwort, it is good in swounding fits [etc.]. 1843 Landor Imag. Conv., O. Cromwell Wks. 1846 II. 228/1 With a sad sinking of spirit, to the pitch well-nigh of swounding. 1854 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xix, I'm all in a swounding daze to-day. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle xxxi, His temporary sense of swounding helplessness. |