Sway Definition
- to reign or prevail
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Sway
Origin of Sway
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Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon"), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow"), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijanÄ… (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble"), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind"), from Proto-Indo-European *swaig- (compare Lithuanian svaÄ©gti (“to become giddy or dizzy"), the second element of Avestan [script?] (pairi-Å¡xuaxta, “to surround"), Sanskrit [script?] (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds")). Cognate to Proto-Slavic *čьvati «swell, become bigger», Old Greek κυέω (kyéo, “become pregnant").
From Wiktionary
Middle English sweien probably of Scandinavian origin
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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