sway

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną (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 svaĩgti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬱𐬑𐬎𐬀𐬑𐬙𐬀‎ (pairi-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit स्वजते (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”)).

• enPR: swā, IPA^(key): /sweɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

sway (plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

   The old song caused a little sway in everyone in the room.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side

   I doubt I'll hold much sway with someone so powerful.

4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Prospero: […] Confederates / (ſo drie he was for Sway) with King of Naples / To giue him Annuall tribute, doe him homage / Subiect his Coronet, to his Crowne and bend / The Dukedom yet vnbow'd (alas poore Millaine) / To moſt ignoble ſtooping.

6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   sway to the music;  The trees swayed in the breeze.

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.

   to sway the sceptre

   • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser

     As sparkles from the anvil rise, / When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed.

3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   Do you think you can sway their decision?

   • 2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     After all this time, the little girl who watched her father get beheaded, who was captured and impressed as her enemy’s servant, who was captured again and taken to the site of her family’s massacre, who enrolled at assassin school, who went blind, who dropped out to pursue vengeance, the woman who endured all that by focusing on her hit list can be swayed from her course by the prospect of her family and her home.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden

     This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.

4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.

   reeds swayed by the wind;  judgment swayed by passion

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Tillotson

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

   to sway up the yards

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Francis Bacon

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Richard Hooker

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Hadst thou swayed as kings should do.

• persuade

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws