▪ I. swarth, n.1 Now only dial.
(swɔːθ)
Also 7 sworth, 8 swarthe.
[OE. swearþ: see sward n. and cf. swarf n.3]
1. Skin, rind; fig. the surface, outside.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. C 198 Cater, suearth. c 1050 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 363/9 Catrum, swearð. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2280 For oft knelyng his knees boun, A grete swarth was on þaim groune. 1807 Stagg Poems 49 Lest for the swarth I past retrievan, The substance torfeit. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Swarth,..any outward covering, as the rind of bacon. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Swarth, the skin of hams and bacon. |
2. Green turf, grass land, greensward.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1126 One the erthe [he] hittez A swerde lenghe with-in þe swarthe. Ibid. 1466 Swyftly with swerdes, they swappene there-aftyre,..That alle swellttez one swarthe. a 1552 Leland Itin. (1906) vi. 79 In Cairarvonshire..is Llin edwarchen, wher [is] the Swymming Island, and ther of it hath the name as of a suimming swarth of yerth. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 19 Cloddes of earth..such as are full of swarth. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm v. vi. 533 New broken swarthes. 1664 Evelyn Sylva 18 The swarth par'd first away, and the earth stirred a foot deep or more. 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) I. 141 Two acres of rich sand land, which the year before had been ploughed out of swarth. 1794 Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 93 The old swarthe produces a very indifferent herbage, but may be much improved, by breaking up, [etc.]. 1798 Trans. Soc. Arts XVI. 242 He has it in contemplation to leave the rest to swarth without sowing seeds on it. |
b. qualified by green (or grassy).
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm iii. i. 335 As soone as you see these bankes firme, and beginning to grow to haue a greene swarth vpon them. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd i. v, On every greene sworth, and in every path. 1751 R. Paltock P. Wilkins xi. (1883) 34/1, I walked over the green swarth to the wood. 1784 Cowper Task i. 110 Through lanes, Of grassy swarth close cropt by nibbling sheep. |
† c. transf. Applied to the top layers of soil. Obs.
| 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. vii. 38 This..cold hungry water is found, beneath the first and second swarth of thy Lands. |
d. attrib.
| 1598 Fitzherbert's Husb. viii. (1882) 132 If you sowe Winter-corne..vpon swarth ground. 1607 Markham Caval. vi. ii. 5 Some plaine leuell Meddowe or such like greene swarth ground. 1794 Act for inclosing South Kelsey 26 Any old Green Swarth Ground. 1876 Mid-Yorks. Gloss. s.v., ‘Swarth-balks’, the end portions of a field, left unploughed, for a cart-way. |
▪ II. swarth, n.2 Now dial.
(swɔːθ)
[Obscure altered form of swath1.]
1. = swath1 3.
| 1552 Huloet, Swarth of grasse newe mowen. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 72/2 The Swarth..are the rows of the cut Grass as the Sithe leaves it. 1706 Phil. Trans. XXV. 2237 The Waves came rolling down, like long Swarths of Grass, one upon another. 1713 Ibid. XXVIII. 91 When it is cut, it must in most Years lie 5 or 6 Days in swarth. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 277, I could have no prospect of mowing a good swarth in the French-grass. 1763 Museum Rust. (ed. 2) I. 236 In Buckinghamshire they cannot use a cradle, their crops being in general so heavy, that the workmen could not carry over the swarth. 1817–18 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 181 They mow four acres of oats, wheat, rye, or barley in a day, and, with a cradle, lay it so smooth in the swarths, that it is tied up in sheaths with the greatest neatness and ease. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiii. (1889) 221 There were groups of children in many parts of the field, and women to look after them, mostly sitting on the fresh swarth. |
| attrib. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 171 The barley is gathered from the swarth into sheaves,..and, after the swarth-corn is secured, the fields are carefully raked. |
b. to mow in swarth: see quots.
| 1763 Museum Rust. (ed. 2) I. 235 Horse-beans..they usually mow with a bare scythe, in swarth, as they term it; that is, they mow the beans towards the beans. 1764 Ibid. III. lxxvi. 336 As to mowing wheat in swarth, I think it will litter about very much, for beans do so. |
c. Applied to growing grain: cf. swath1 3 b.
| 1880 J. B. Phear Aryan Village i. 4 These open spaces..are..covered..by green waving swarths of rice. |
2. transf. and fig. = swath1 4 a, b.
† at full swarth: (app.) ‘in full swing’ (Davies), like a scythe making swaths.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 162 An affection'd Asse, that cons State without booke, and vtters it by great swarths. 1713 Gentl. Instructed iii. iii. (ed. 5) 403 Tho' his Design miscarried, his Malice was at full swarth. 1847 Le Fanu T. O'Brien 267 Old time sweeps in his swarth. 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. ix. 139 He sees the course of his heroes by the black swarth of dead men. |
▪ III. swarth, n.3
(swɔːθ)
Variant of swarf n.2
With quot. 1596 cf. quot. 1566 s.v. swarf n.2
| 1596 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) 259 In dieng stuffe..In brasell, half a hundreth and xj pounds, 46s. 8d. In galles, viij poundes, 6s. In swarthe, iiij pounds, 8d. 1783–4 London Sessions Papers 472 He told me that there was some swarth, that is iron file dust. 1892 Rigby in Min. Proc. Inst. Civ. Engin. CXI. 140 A capillary brass tube [in a drilling-machine], supplying soap-and-oil emulsion at a pressure of 80 lbs. on the inch. This washes out the ‘swarth’ and cools the cutting-edge. |
▪ IV. swarth, n.4 dial.
[perh. subst. use of swarth a. But cf. Sc. warth, var. wraith.]
The apparition of a dying person; a wraith.
| 1674 Ray N.C. Words 47 A Swarth, Cumb., the Ghost of a dying man. 1790 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Pop. Superstitions 13 These apparitions are called Fetches, or Wraiths, and in Cumberland, Swarths. |
▪ V. swarth, a. (n.5)
[Obscure variant of swart a.; cf. swarthy a.1, and swarf a., swarfish, swarfy.]
Dusky, swarthy, black.
| c 1530 [implied in swarthness]. 1569 C. T[ye] Nastagio & Traversari A vj b, A knight, of colour swarthe. 1600 Surflet Country Farm vi. xxii. 787 Such women as..are subiect to pale and swarth colours. 1600 E. Bolton Palinode in Eng. Helicon B iv b, Swarth clowdes. 1613 Fletcher, etc. Captain ii. ii, He looks Of a more rusty swarth Complexion Than an old arming Doublet. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 749 A swarth Indian with his belt of beads. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. vii, Where thwarting tides, with mingled roar, Part thy swarth hills from Morven's shore. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunters vii. 55 The complexion, from tan and exposure, was brown and swarth. |
| fig. 1621 Fletcher Isl. Princess v. i, Foule swarthe ingratitude. |
b. n. Swarthiness; dusky complexion or colour. rare.
| a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 258 The skies Face and black swarth of cloud threaten no ill: 'Tis summer-thunder. 1872 Browning Fifine xv, First Let me..pourtray you..The gypsy's foreign self, no swarth our sun could bake. |
Hence ˈswarthish a., somewhat swarthy; ˈswarthness, swarthiness, duskiness.
| c 1530 Judic. Urines ii. ii. 11 b, A swarthnes, a derknes & dymnes in the vryne, most to blaknesse warde. 1653 Ramesey Astrol. Restored 86 A..long visage, and a swarthish complexion. |
▪ VI. swarth, v.1 Now dial.
[f. swarth n.1]
trans. and intr. = sward v. 1, 2.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Feudigr. i. vi. 13 With what Herbage the Crust or Sword is matted, mantled and swarthed. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. xxi. 95 If, through..some mischance in the hay-seeds, it should not swarth well. 1858 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIX. i. 256 Where land is of a rich loamy character, there is no difficulty in getting it to swarth over with grass of good quality. |
▪ VII. swarth, v.2 rare.
(swɔːð, -θ)
[f. swarth a.]
trans. To make swarthy, to darken.
| 1846 G. Warburton Hochelaga II. 161 Complexion fresh and ruddy but swarthed over by sun and wind. a 1889 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 180 His cheeks the forth-and-flaunting sun Had swarthed about with lion⁓brown. |
▪ VIII. swarth
obs. var. swarf v., to faint.