Hypertext Webster Gateway: "sway"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Sway \Sway\, n.
1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; the swing or sweep
of a weapon.

With huge two-handed sway brandished aloft.
--Milton.

2. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side;
as, the sway of desires. --A. Tucker.

3. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.

Expert When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway
Of battle. --Milton.

4. Rule; dominion; control. --Cowper.

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The
post of honor is a private station. --Addison.

5. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
[Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.

Syn: Rule; dominion; power; empire; control; influence;
direction; preponderance; ascendency.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Sway \Sway\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Swayed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Swaying}.] [OE. sweyen, Icel. sveigja, akin to E. swing; cf.
D. zwaaijen to wield, swing. See {Swing}, and cf. {Swag}, v.
i.]
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. --Spenser.

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. --Shak.

She could not sway her house. --Shak.

This was the race To sway the world, and land and
sea subdue. --Dryden.

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. --Hudibras.

Let not temporal and little advantages sway you
against a more durable interest. --Tillotson.

4. (Naut.) To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.

Syn: To bias; rule; govern; direct; influence; swing; move;
wave; wield.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Sway \Sway\, v. i.
1. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean;
to incline.

The balance sways on our part. --Bacon.

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.
--Hooker.

4. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Hadst thou swayed as kings should do. --Shak.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

sway
n 1: controlling influence
2: pitching dangerously to one side [syn: {rock}, {careen}, {tilt}]
v 1: move back and forth in an unstable manner; "the ship was
rocking"; "the tall building swayed"; "the tree shook in
the wind" [syn: {rock}, {shake}]
2: move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner; "He swung
back" [syn: {swing}]
3: win approval or support for; "Carry all before one" [syn: {carry},
{persuade}]
4: move sideways or in an unsteady way, as of a ship or a
vehicle out of control [syn: {careen}, {wobble}, {shift},
{tilt}]
5: sway gently back and forth, as of flowers or tress in the
wind [syn: {nod}]


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