Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A country lad, especially a young shepherd.
- noun A young male suitor or lover.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A young man or boy in service; a servant.
- noun A young man in attendance on a knight; a squire.
- noun A man dwelling in the country; a countryman employed in husbandry; a rustic.
- noun Hence A country gallant; a lover or sweetheart generally.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A servant.
- noun A young man dwelling in the country; a rustic; esp., a cuntry gallant or lover; -- chiefly in poetry.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A knight's
servant ; anattendant . - noun archaic A country
labourer ; acountryman , arustic . - noun poetic A rural
lover ; a malesweetheart in a pastoral setting.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a man who is the lover of a girl or young woman
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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'I protest,' cried Sir Sedley to Camilla, tis your favourite swain from the Northwick assembly! wafted on some zephyr of Hope, he has pursued you to Tunbridge.
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She was in a bitter state of trepidation, or she would have thought twice before she touched a nerve of the enamoured lady, as she knew she did in calling her swain a poor brute, and did again by pertinaciously pursuing:
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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'You lump the gold and make it current coin; -- says the blushing bride, who ought not to have delivered herself so boldly, but she had forgotten her bashful part and spoilt the scene, though, luckily for the damsel, her swain was a lover of nature, and finding her at full charge, named the very next day of the year, and held her to it, like the complimentary tyrant he was.'
One of Our Conquerors — Volume 1 George Meredith 1868
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She was in a bitter state of trepidation, or she would have thought twice before she touched a nerve of the enamoured lady, as she knew she did in calling her swain a poor brute, and did again by pertinaciously pursuing:
Evan Harrington — Volume 4 George Meredith 1868
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'You lump the gold and make it current coin; -- says the blushing bride, who ought not to have delivered herself so boldly, but she had forgotten her bashful part and spoilt the scene, though, luckily for the damsel, her swain was a lover of nature, and finding her at full charge, named the very next day of the year, and held her to it, like the complimentary tyrant he was.'
One of Our Conquerors — Complete George Meredith 1868
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'You lump the gold and make it current coin; -- says the blushing bride, who ought not to have delivered herself so boldly, but she had forgotten her bashful part and spoilt the scene, though, luckily for the damsel, her swain was a lover of nature, and finding her at full charge, named the very next day of the year, and held her to it, like the complimentary tyrant he was.'
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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She was in a bitter state of trepidation, or she would have thought twice before she touched a nerve of the enamoured lady, as she knew she did in calling her swain a poor brute, and did again by pertinaciously pursuing:
Evan Harrington — Complete George Meredith 1868
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Watteau-like figures, -- tall damsels in slim waists and with spread enough of skirt for a modern ballroom, with bowing, reclining, or musical swains of what everybody calls the "conventional" sort, -- that is, the swain adapted to genteel society rather than to a literal sheep-compelling existence.
Elsie Venner Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
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Watteau-like figures, -- tall damsels in slim waists and with spread enough of skirt for a modern ballroom, with bowing, reclining, or musical swains of what everybody calls the "conventional" sort, -- that is, the swain adapted to genteel society rather than to a literal sheep-compelling existence.
Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works Oliver Wendell Holmes 1851
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I do have to say that I loved the photo of the young lady with her 'swain' in his kilt..very very classy.
A Linktastic Friday to End All Linktastic Fridays - A Dress A Day 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word swain
"A jovial swain should not complain of any buxom fair / Who mocks his pain and thinks it gain to quiz his awkward air."
An ingenious couplet notable for containing all letters of the English alphabet save one.
March 18, 2009
rebeca commented on the word swain
“Who is Celia? What is she? That all her swains commend her?” -- Otto Waltz. From Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut.
If you ever want to scare people the way Otto Waltz did, this word should be in your vocabulary.
December 9, 2012