Swart

//swɔɹt// adj, name, noun, verb

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of a dark hue; moderately black; swarthy; tawny.

    "1400s: Thomas Occleve, Hymns to the Virgin Men schalle then sone se / Att mydday hytt shalle swarte be"

  2. 2
    Black. UK, dialectal
  3. 3
    Gloomy; malignant. obsolete

    "Suddenly the swart figure of Time stood up before the gods, with both hands dripping with blood and a red sword dangling idly from his fingers, and said: “Sardathrion is gone! I have overthrown it!”"

Adjective
  1. 1
    naturally having skin of a dark color wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    Black or dark dyestuff. UK, dialectal
  2. 2
    Obsolete spelling of sward. alt-of, obsolete, uncountable

    "Howbeit where the rocks and quarrie grounds are, I take the swart of the earth to be so thin, that no tree of anie greatnesse, other than shrubs and bushes, is able to grow or prosper long therein for want of sufficient moisture wherewith to feed them with fresh humour, or at the leastwise of mould […]"

  3. 3
    Variant of swath. Ireland, alt-of, alternative, dialectal
Verb
  1. 1
    To make swart or tawny; blacken; tan. transitive

    "to swart a living part"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English swart, from Old English sweart, from Proto-West Germanic *swart, from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swerd-. Doublet of Schwarz.

Etymology 2

From Middle English swart, from Old English sweart, from Proto-West Germanic *swart, from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swerd-. Doublet of Schwarz.

Etymology 3

From Middle English swarten, from Old English sweartian, from Proto-West Germanic *swartōn, from Proto-Germanic *swartōną. By surface analysis, swart + -en.

Etymology 4

Variant of sward.

Etymology 5

English and Dutch surname, from swart (“dark-haired, dark-skinned, swarthy”).

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