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Sway   /sweɪ/   Listen
noun
Sway  n.  
1.
The act of swaying; a swaying motion; the swing or sweep of a weapon. "With huge two-handed sway brandished aloft."
2.
Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side; as, the sway of desires.
3.
Preponderance; turn or cast of balance. "Expert When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway Of battle."
4.
Rule; dominion; control. "When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honor is a private station."
5.
A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work. (Prov. Eng.)
Synonyms: Rule; dominion; power; empire; control; influence; direction; preponderance; ascendency.


verb
Sway  v. t.  (past & past part. swayed; pres. part. swaying)  
1.
To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield; as, to sway the scepter. "As sparkles from the anvil rise, When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed."
2.
To influence or direct by power and authority; by persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. "The will of man is by his reason swayed." "She could not sway her house." "This was the race To sway the world, and land and sea subdue."
3.
To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp; as, reeds swayed by wind; judgment swayed by passion. "As bowls run true by being made On purpose false, and to be swayed." "Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest."
4.
(Naut.) To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.
Synonyms: To bias; rule; govern; direct; influence; swing; move; wave; wield.


Sway  v. i.  
1.
To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline. "The balance sways on our part."
2.
To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward.
3.
To have weight or influence. "The example of sundry churches... doth sway much."
4.
To bear sway; to rule; to govern. "Hadst thou swayed as kings should do."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Sway" Quotes from Famous Books



... of itself an emancipation to Pippo. He was a good boy and no rebel against the double maternal bond which had lain so lightly yet so closely upon him all his life. It was only for a year or two that he had suspected that this was unusual, or even imagined that for a growing man the sway of two ladies, and even their devotion, might make others smile. Perhaps he had been a little more particular in his notions, in his manners, in his fastidious dislike to dirt and careless habits, than was common in the somewhat rough north country school which had so risen in scholastic ...
— The Marriage of Elinor • Margaret Oliphant
... of swinging alone?" she grumbled, but there was no one on the piazza to answer her, and she let the hammock sway lazily while she looked down the sunny road, and thought how strange it was that the ...
— Dorothy Dainty at the Mountains • Amy Brooks
... way against the wind. The sail device was tested only to be abandoned. Only when a trail rope dragging along the ground or sea is employed does the sail offer sufficient resistance to the wind to sway the balloon's course this way or that. And a trailer is impracticable when navigating ...
— Aircraft and Submarines - The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day - Uses of War's Newest Weapons • Willis J. Abbot
... audible, and the audience leaned forward and listened with breathless interest. Occasionally, during his sermon, he would pause and kneel in silent prayer, and often by his pauses—his very silences—he would reach a degree of eloquence that would sway ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers • Elbert Hubbard
... equal terms; indeed, Janet led. The subjects were not very deep. Plain wits, candour, and an unpretending tongue, it seemed, could make common subjects attractive, as fair weather does our English woods and fields. The princess was attracted by something in Janet. I myself felt the sway of something, while observing Ottilia's rapt pleasure in her talk and her laughter, with those funny familiar frowns and current dimples twisting and melting away like a play of shadows on the ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith


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