sway
Definitions
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WordNet 3.6
- v sway move back and forth or sideways "the ship was rocking","the tall building swayed","She rocked back and forth on her feet"
- v sway cause to move back and forth "rock the cradle","rock the baby","the wind swayed the trees gently"
- v sway move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner "He swung back"
- v sway win approval or support for "Carry all before one","His speech did not sway the voters"
- n sway pitching dangerously to one side
- n sway controlling influence
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Interesting fact: Tacoma Narrows Bridge which was located in Washington was nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" because of the unusual way it twisted and swayed with even with the slightest winds when people would drive on it. The bridge collapsed on November 7, 1940, fortunately no humans died, except for a dog
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- Sway A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
- Sway Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side; as, the sway of desires.
- Sway Preponderance; turn or cast of balance. "Expert
When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway Of battle." - Sway Rule; dominion; control. "When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway ,
The post of honor is a private station." - Sway The act of swaying; a swaying motion; the swing or sweep of a weapon. "With huge two-handed sway brandished aloft."
- Sway To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline. "The balance sways on our part."
- Sway To bear sway; to rule; to govern. "Hadst thou swayed as kings should do."
- Sway 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." - Sway To have weight or influence. "The example of sundry churches . . . doth sway much."
- Sway (Naut) To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.
- Sway 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." - Sway To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward.
- Sway 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 ." - ***
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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Interesting fact: With winds of 50 miles per hour, The Statue of Liberty sways three inches and the torch sways five inches
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- sway To bend to one side, as by excess of weight; hang in a heavy, unsteady manner; lean away from the perpendicular; swag: as, a wall that sways to the west; also, to bend or lean first to one side and then to the other; swing backward and forward.
- sway To move or incline to one side, or to one side and then to the other, literally or figuratively; incline to one side, party, etc., or to one and then to the other; vacillate, as judgment or opinion.
- sway To have weight or influence; bear rule; govern.
- sway To advance steadily.
- sway To cause to move backward and forward; wave or swing; hence, to wield with the hand.
- sway To cause to bend or move aside; bias, literally or figuratively; cause to lean or incline to one side; prejudice.
- sway To rule; govern; influence or direct by power and authority, or by moral force; manage.
- sway Nautical, to hoist; raise: particularly said of yards and topmasts.
- sway Guide, Direct (see guide), control.
- n sway Inclination; preponderance; movement toward one side or the other, or toward both alternately; swing.
- n sway Weight; force, as of some heavy or powerful agent.
- n sway Rule; control; government: probably in allusion to the sway of the scepter, or of the sword, embodying and illustrating government.
- n sway An instrument of rule or management.
- n sway A switch used by thatchers to bind their Work. Synonyms Influence, Ascendancy, etc. See authority.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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Interesting fact: During a severe windstorm or rainstorm the Empire State Building may sway several feet to either side.
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- v.t Sway swā to swing or wield with the hand: to incline to one side: to influence by power or moral force: to govern: to hoist, raise
- v.i Sway to incline to one side: to govern: to have weight or influence
- n Sway the sweep of a weapon: that which moves with power: preponderance: power in governing: influence or authority inclining to one side: a thatcher's binding-switch
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Quotations
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“A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.” -
“Infinite hungers leap no more I in the chance swaying of your dress; and love has changed to kindliness.” -
“Don't be swayed just because they say it's public opinion. Remember, public opinion is simple what everybody else thinks.”
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“Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, and fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
OE. sweyen, Icel. sveigja, akin to E. swing,; cf. D. zwaaijen, to wield, swing. See Swing, and cf. Swag (v. i.)
Usage
In literature:
Then they began walking with swaying steps toward the miniature railing of the white slab.
"Beyond the Vanishing Point" by Raymond King Cummings
Were it less toil To sway his nations than consume his life?
"The Works of Lord Byron" by Lord Byron
As long as saintly Eleanor held undisputed sway?
"Under the Rose" by Frederic Stewart Isham
The Master said, What is it to sway a kingdom by courteous yielding?
"The Sayings Of Confucius" by Confucius
Knowledge alone limits their sway, and at least changes the range and form of their dominion.
"Folkways" by William Graham Sumner
The Mother's sway over her Children.
"The Young Maiden" by A. B. (Artemas Bowers) Muzzey
He was no longer swayed by Presidential aspirations.
"The Negro and the Nation" by George S. Merriam
He had sat for a long time like this, before he realized the strangeness of his attitude and getting on to his feet, found himself swaying.
"The Book of All-Power" by Edgar Wallace
Dazed, sick, weak, he swayed there, aware only of himself and his own sensations.
"The Defiant Agents" by Andre Alice Norton
SWAY, TO, OR SWAY AWAY.
"The Sailor's Word-Book" by William Henry Smyth
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In poetry:
We have been together
Four Aprils now
Watching for the green
On the swaying willow bough;
Four Aprils now
Watching for the green
On the swaying willow bough;
"Gray Eyes" by Sara Teasdale
Swiftly I thrust away
This thought of the Woods of Truagh,
My poplar, my fir are you,
My larch a-sway–
This thought of the Woods of Truagh,
My poplar, my fir are you,
My larch a-sway–
"On An Island" by Anna Johnston MacManus
The lone place grew more lonely,
And all along our way
The mysteries of the night-time
Held undisputed sway.
And all along our way
The mysteries of the night-time
Held undisputed sway.
"Lake Como" by Abram Joseph Ryan
I watched it swaying and bending,
As if a fairy's hand
Had lightly touched it in passing
To her home in fairyland.
As if a fairy's hand
Had lightly touched it in passing
To her home in fairyland.
"The Painter And The Fairy" by Alexander Anderson
But he, the Man we mourn to-day,
No tyrant was: so mild a sway
In one such weight who bore
Was never known before!
No tyrant was: so mild a sway
In one such weight who bore
Was never known before!
"Abraham Lincoln: An Horatian Ode" by Richard Henry Stoddard
O sway, and swing, and sway,
And swing, and sway, and swing!
Ah me, what bliss like unto this,
Can days and daylight bring?
And swing, and sway, and swing!
Ah me, what bliss like unto this,
Can days and daylight bring?
"The First Extra" by Amy Levy
In news:
To make it happen, residents had to sway the leaders of city government.
Americans Not Swayed By Iraq Plan.
Americans were not swayed very much by President Bush's speech Wednesday night outlining his new strategy for the war in Iraq, according to a CBS News poll.
Bush Not Swayed By Iraq Panel.
Two Babies Swaying to the Music Too Cute.
Candidates' 'fracking' silence not swaying eastern Ohio voters.
Facebook Ads Not Swaying Most Users, Poll Finds.
Romney's electability swaying Florida voters.
Brown not swaying from Notre Dame.
Kagan, Thomas Targeted in Hopes of Swaying Supreme Court's Health Care Ruling.
Brian Fogt helps Langley set the club in the proper position without swaying .
The last time I went to the Empire State Building, it looked as if the building was swaying .
The swaying of the black vote.
Democrats showcase San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and hope to sway Latino vote.
If you stop by the Squeaky Bean for lunch, don't be swayed by the tuna conserva (one of the menu's most popular—and delicious—items).
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In science:
Bohr’s idea that the nucleus is a complex, strongly interacting system was adopted by the community and held sway until the discovery of the nuclear shell model in 1949.
Random Matrices and Chaos in Nuclear Physics
The main new feature of our complex (45) is that it works also for multicomponent boundary, which is due to introducing new quantities — boundary component sways.
A simple topological quantum field theory for manifolds with triangulated boundary
Matrix f4 . A typical vector in the fourth nonzero space in (5), C2N ′ 0+3m , is a column consisting of differentials dαi and dβi for each inner vertex i, and also subcolumns κ ! for each boundary component κ; we call these subcolumns conjugate sways.
A simple topological quantum field theory for manifolds with triangulated boundary
The second column vector in the mentioned direct sum is of height m, and each of its entries is just a copy of the same group PSL(2, C) which we put in correspondence to each boundary component and call its sway.
A simple topological quantum field theory for manifolds with triangulated boundary
By definition, each of these m components of F1 takes any element of PSL(2, C) into itself (thus resulting in m identical sways of boundary components).
A simple topological quantum field theory for manifolds with triangulated boundary
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