▪ I. swathe, n.1
see swath1.
▪ II. swathe, n.2
(sweɪð)
Also 7–8 swaith, swath.
[OE. *swæþ (?), swaþ-, only in dat. pl. swaþum; for related forms see swathe v., swethe, swaddle, sweddle.]
1. A band of linen, woollen, or other material in which something is enveloped; a wrapping; sometimes, a single fold or winding of such; also collect. sing. a. gen.
| c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 484/17 Institis, in swaþum. [Gloss on John xi. 44.] 1598 Florio, Banda..a skarfe or a swathe. 1666 Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 88, 3 crevetts, 4 swaiths, 2 handkerchiefs. 1681 Grew Musæum iv. iii. 373 The Handle, adorned with fine Straws laid along the sides, and lap'd round about it, in several distinct Swaths. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 90 ¶7 Long Pieces of Linen, which they folded about me till they had wrapt me in above an hundred Yards of Swathe. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. iii. vii. §3 A cap,..made of thick swaths. 1818 Keats Prophecy 21 Though the linen that will be Its swathe, is on the cotton tree. 1911 ‘Geo. A. Birmingham’ Lighter Side Irish Life vii. 159 Young men masked and disguised with swathes of straw tied over their clothes. |
† b. sing. and pl. An infant's swaddling-bands. Obs.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Crepundia..the first apparayle of children, as, swathes,..and such lyke. 1580 Fermor Acc. in Archæol. Jrnl. (1851) VIII. 186 Y⊇ other daughter to be pictured [on the side of the Tomb] as dieinge in y⊇ cradle or swathes. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 252 Had'st thou like vs from our first swath proceeded. 1646 M. Lluelyn Men-Miracles, etc. 98 Thou that in Conquests didst thy Non⁓age bathe, And like Alcides combate in thy Swathe. 1742 Blair Grave 138 Like new-born Infant wound up in his Swathes. 1786 Misc. Ess. in Ann. Reg. 125/1 [The infant] is not there swaddled and filleted up in a swathe. |
c. A surgical bandage.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man Pref. 1 Engines, Swathes, Ties, Bands and Ligatures, described by Hippocrates. 1656 J. Smith Pract. Physick 162 Swaths, which are either of leather..or of wollen. 1722 Douglas in Phil. Trans. XXXII. 85, I turn'd a swath a little broader than the Patient's Hand once round him. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life iii. (ed. 3) 43 My limping gait, and this bewitching swathe about my head. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 376 Strips of lint..may be laid along the..swelling..and covered with the flannel swathe as before. |
2. transf. a. A natural formation constituting a wrapping; † a covering membrane, integument; an object that enwraps something, as a cloud.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 191 The outward coate inuesting the kidneyes which is commonly called fascia or the swath. 1733 Cheyne Engl. Malady i. x. §4. 98 These Swaiths and Membranes burst and break naturally. 1871 Daily News 19 Aug., Grey swathes of cloud still hung about the hills. 1880 Browning Pan & Luna 49 The downy swathes [of cloud about the moon] combine. 1891 Meredith Poems, Eng. bef. Storm iv, When..high in swathe of smoke the mast Its fighting rag outrolled. |
† b. = list n.3 6 b, listel. Obs.
| 1673 Moxon tr. Barozzio Vignola 22 The nether Band or Swathe of the Column. Ibid. 58 The upper Torus, or Swathe. |
c. fig. Something that restricts or confines like a swaddling-band.
| 1864 Spectator 31 Dec. 1500 Tied up helplessly in tight swathes of ignorance. 1906 Ibid. 3 Feb. 176/1 Within the swathes and fetters of civilisation. |
3. Comb.: † swathe-fish, the ribbon-fish.
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 126 Tænia..the Swath-fish. 1901 C. Holland Mousmé 89 With a graceful bending of her knees beneath her swathelike kimono. |
▪ III. swathe, v.
(sweɪð)
Also 6–7 swath.
[late OE. swaþian, f. swaþ: see swathe n.2]
1. trans. To envelop in a swathe or swathes; to wrap up, swaddle, bandage.
| 11.. MS. Cott. Vesp. D. 14 in Kluge Angelsächs. Lesebuch 73 Heo hine baðede..and frefrede and swaðede and roccode. 13.. Bonaventura's Medit. 974 Marye, with a swote cloute, Swaþed here sones hede all aboute. c 1425 Cursor M. 11236 (Laud) Suche clothis as she had to hond With suche she swathid [Cott. suedeld, Gött. swetheled] hym & bond. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 78 Swathe [v.r. swethe] a tender vyne in bondes softe. 1538 Elyot, Fascior.., to swathe a chylde. 1611 Cotgr., Bander..to bind, swaddle, swath, tye with bands. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. xv. 408 From their Infancy their Feet are kept swathed up with bands. 1742 Richardson Pamela IV. 319, I have seen poor Babies roll'd and swath'd, ten or a dozen times round, then Blanket upon Blanket, Mantle upon that. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xlii, I found my arms swathed down, my feet tied. 1824 ― Redgauntlet let. xi, His legs stretched out before him, and swathed up with flannel. 1863 Tyndall Heat i. 6 Two glasses are swathed thickly round with listing, to prevent the warmth of the hands from reaching the mercury. 1892 K. Tynan in Speaker 3 Sept. 290/1 In the winter [the roses] were swathed in cocoanut fibre and sacking. |
b. Said of the swathe or wrapping.
| 1856 Miss Mulock John Halifax xxii, The showiest of cambric kerchiefs swathing him up to the very chin. 1909 Daily Graphic 4 Oct. 13/2 This scarf-like trimming also swathes the high toques of pleated velvet. |
c. To wrap round something, as or like a swathe or bandage.
| 1656 J. Smith Pract. Physick 163 The second band laid on they swathe with fewer rollings. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. iv. 279 He..had a red belt or sash swathed round his body. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xv. (1859) 369, I can swathe a bandage too, although no surgeon. 1909 Daily Graphic 4 Oct. 13/1 [To] wear their hair swathed round their heads à la Récamier. |
2. transf. and fig. To envelop or surround as with a wrapping; to enwrap, enfold; † to encircle so as to confine or restrain.
| 1624 Quarles Job Sect. xviii. N 4 b, Who is't that tames the raging of the Seas, And swathes them vp in mists, when-e're he please? 1692 Bp. Hopkins Disc. Providence in Expos. Lord's Prayer, etc. 276 Who hath swathed in the great and proud Ocean, with a Girdle of Sand. 1781 Cowper Retirem. 527 [God] swathes about the swelling of the deep, That shines and rests, as infants smile and sleep. 1809 De Quincey in ‘H. A. Page’ Life (1877) I. vii. 145 My cottage..being swathed about by a little orchard. 1860 Froude Hist. Eng. xxxv. VI. 528 In that brief time she had swathed her name in the horrid epithet which will cling to it for ever. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxi. 145 The Riffelberg was swathed in a dense fog. 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. vi. 141 The mists that swathed the primeval chaos. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xv. (1878) 308 The water swathed their stems with coolness and freshness. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 43 Dim-lettered texts from the Holy Word; But all in the damp moss swathed and bound. |
¶ 3. To make into sheaves. Obs. rare—0.
| 1611 Cotgr., Iavelé, swathed, or made into sheaues. Ibid., Iaveler, to swathe, or gauel corn; to make it into sheaues, or gauells. |