Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

æ
þ

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.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “swífan.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/29784.

Checked: 0
Full form

Word-wheel

  • swífan, v.

Copyright

All the data provided here are free for any purpose. If you use the data for academic purposes, we ask that you kindly cite us as your source. In case you need a large portion of the dictionary data or you need it in a specific format, let us know through the contact form, we are happy to do custom database dumps for researchers.

How to cite

You can cite the entries of the online version of the dictionary, or you can cite the scanned pages of the original paper editions.

  • To cite the online version of the dictionary, click the icon right under the entry.
  • To cite the scanned paper version of the dictionary, click the "show/hide this scanned page" link under the entry, check the scan and use the citation information right above it.