Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
The waste chips or shavings from an abrasive activity, such as metalworking, a saw cutting wood, or the use of a grindstone or whetstone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A particular waste chip or shaving.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A faint or swoon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To grind down.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To grow languid; to faint.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, intransitive, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From Middle English *swarf, *swerf, from Old English ġeswearf, ġesweorf (“iron filings; rust”) and/or Old Norse svarf (“metallic dust”), both from Proto-Germanic *swarbą (“that which is rubbed off; shavings”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to mop, wipe; to rub off”); see further at swerve. The word is cognate to Old English sweorfan (“to rub, scour; to file”).
From Middle English swarven, swerven (“to go; to deviate, turn aside; to stagger, be unsteady; to swerve”), from Old English sweorfan (“to wipe; to polish; to rub, scour; to file”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to mop, wipe; to rub off”). The word is cognate to Middle Dutch swerven (“to rove; to stray”) (whence Dutch zwerven (“to roam”)), Low German swarven (“to rove; to stray; to riot”), Old Norse svarfa (“to sweep; to be agitated, upset”), Norwegian svarva (“to agitate”), sverva (“to whirl”). See swerve.
Across languages
16 source translations are retained for this English entry.
