Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

swífan

  • verb [ strong ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
swífan, p. swáf, pl. swifon; pp. swifen.
Wright's OE grammar
§490;
to move in a course,
wend, sweep
Show examples
  • Hond hwyrfeþ geneahhe swíféþ mé geond sweartne

    the hand passes over me

    (a skin),
      Exon. Th. 394, 4 ; Rä. 13, 13.
  • On ðære ilcan eaxe hwerfeþ rodor, recene scríþeþ, súðheald swíféþ swift

    (sweeps swift),

      Met. 28, 17.
  • Mqnnum þyncþ ðæt sió sunne on mere gange, under sǽ swífe, ðonne hió on setl glídeþ, 39.
  • Sceal on ánum fét searo-ceáp (a ship) swífan, swíþe féran, faran ofer feldas, Exon. Th. 415, 6; Rä. 33, 7. [Here are added examples of á-swífan omitted in their place :-- Asuáb

    exorbitans,

      Wrt. Voc. ii. 107, 74.
  • Áswífende

    exorbitans, exorbitantes, 31, 19, 31: 83, 7: 86, 10: exorbitantes, i. circuientes, declinantes,

      145, 80.
    ]
of a course of action,
to come to take part in a matter
Show examples
  • Ðá swáf Eánulf on wæs geréfa ðá genom eal ðæt yrfe him on ðæt hé áhte tó Tyssebyrig

    then (after the commission of a crime) Eanulf, who was reeve, struck in or intervened, and took all the property from him (the criminal) that he owned at Tisbury,

      Chart. Th. 172, 31.
Etymology
[O. Frs. swíva to be uncertain: Icel. svífa rove, tarn, sweep. Cf. O. H. Ger. sweibón ferri, volvere, incitari. Gothic has the verb sweiban; p. swaif (Lk. 7, 45) with the meaning to cease, leave off.]
Similar entries
v. á-, on-, tó-swífan.
Linked entries
v.  a-swífan.
Full form

Word-wheel

  • swífan, v.