▪ I. swad, n.1 dial. (eastern).
Also swod.
[Local variant of sward n. Cf. swathe2.]
= sward n. 1, 2.
| c 1460 Promp. Parv. (Winch.) 445 Swad, or sward of flesh, coriana. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Swad, Swod..(2) The swarth or skin of bacon... Swarth, Swath, Sward, Swad, grass-land. 1895 Gloss. E. Anglia s.v., Pork swad = brawn. |
▪ II. swad, n.2 Now dial.
(swɒd)
Also 6 swadde, 6–7 swadd.
[? Of Scand. origin: cf. Norw. dial. svadde big stout fellow.]
1. A country bumpkin; a clodhopper; a loutish or clownish fellow; a common term of abuse.
| c 1570 Misogonus ii. ii. 6 Dost thou drinke all thy thrift thou swilbold swadd? 1572 Gascoigne Hearbes, Voy. Holland 70 A Dutche, a Devill, a swadde. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 109 When that this swad long trauailde had, Some seruice to require. 1584 R. Wilson Three Ladies Lond. ii. A iij b, Thou horson rascall swad auaunt. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 151 A hare-braind foole in thy head; a vile swad in thy hart; a fowle lyer in thy throate. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Motto Wks. ii. 46/1 When I see a stagg'ring drunken swad. 1628 R. S. Counter Scuffle lxix, Wert not for vs, thou Swad, quoth hee, Where would'st thou fog to get a fee? 1673 S. Parker Reproof, Reh. Transp. 268 Thou dastard craven, thou swad, thou mushroom. |
b. appos. or as adj.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 101 Sister to swad Encelad. |
2. A squat fat person. (Cf. squad a., squaddy a.)
| [1606 Holland Sueton. 175 A certeine corpulent and fat swad. 1633 B. Jonson Tale Tub ii. ii, A blunt squat swad.] 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Swad,..a gross fat Woman. |
▪ III. swad, n.3 dial.
(swɒd)
[Origin obscure; perhaps related to swathe n.2, as if = covering, integument.]
The pod or husk of peas, beans, etc.
| 1600 Surflet Country Farm v. xviii. 695 They must bee gathered..presently vpon their being ripe, for else they drie vp and fall out of their swads. 1658 Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 197 Gather them when you first perceive their swads below to open and shead. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xviii. 145 The Bean is not seen till..its swad or hull be shaled. 1819 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 94 They peltet ilk udder wi' swads. 1832 Scoreby Farm Rep. 19 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, It is the stem and leaf [of beans] that is wanted, more than the swad or grain. 1902 Speaker 26 Apr. 100/1 The pods hang down, and only the swad is used for feeding cattle. |
▪ IV. swad, n.4 local.
(swɒd)
Also 7 swadd.
[Origin obscure.]
A fish-basket.
| 1602 in R. G. Marsden Sel. Pleas. Crt. Admir. (Selden Soc.) II. Introd. 32, vij oyster swadds. 1847 Halliwell, Swad..(4) A fish-basket. Sussex. |
▪ V. swad, n.5 dial.
(swɒd)
[Perhaps the same word as swad n.2]
A soldier. Also swad-gill [gill n.7 = fellow], swadkin.
| 1708 Mem. J[ohn] H[all] 10 Swad or Swadkin, a Soldier. 1757 W. Vernon Bardolph & Trulla i. in Lond. Chron. 1–3 Dec. 533/3 Trulla, while I thy love enjoy'd, Nor any of the swads beside, With you might toy and kiss. 1787 W. Taylor Scots Poems 170 They may..for a swad or sailor sell you In time o' weir. 1796 Grose Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Swad, or Swadkin, a soldier. Cant. 1812 Swod-gill [see swaddy n.]. 1853 Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. i. 88 Ilk struttin swad, ilk reelin' sailor. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Swad, or Swadkin, a newly raised soldier. |
▪ VI. swad, n.6 Mining. north.
(swɒd)
[Possibly a variant of squad n.2, loose tin or other ore mixed with earth (Cornwall).]
A layer of stone or worthless coal at the bottom of a seam.
| 1860 Eng. & For. Mining Gloss., Newcastle Terms (ed. 2) 65. 1865 Our Coal & Coal-pits 51 A black substance, called swad, resembling soot caked together. |
▪ VII. swad, n.7 U.S.
(swɒd)
Also swod.
[?]
A thick mass, clump, or bunch; hence, a great quantity (also pl.).
| 1828–32 Webster, Swad... In New England, a lump, mass or bunch; also, a crowd. (Vulgar.) 1833 [Seba Smith] Lett. J. Downing ii. (1835) 32 Enoch Bissel, as sly as a weasel, slipped in [i.e. into the field-piece] a swad of grass that hit Mr. Van Buren's horse. Ibid. iii. 41 There was a swod of fine folks. 1840 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. iii. vi. 83 How is colonist able to pay for all this almighty swad of manufactured plunder? 1844 ‘Jon. Slick’ High Life New York II. 196 The thick swad of hair that hung..all round that harnsome head of her'n. 1855 Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. II. 124 It ain't good to use such a swad of words. |