Swathe
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A bandage; a band.
- 2 Alternative spelling of swath. British, alt-of, alternative
"United's stature is such that one result must not bring the immediate announcement of a shift in the balance of power in Manchester - but the swathes of empty seats around Old Trafford and the wave of attacks pouring towards David de Gea's goal in the second half emphasised that City quite simply have greater firepower and talent in their squad at present."
- 3 an enveloping bandage wordnet
- 1 To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers
"Their children are never swathed, or bound about with any thing when they are first born' but are put naked into the bed with their parents to lie."
- 2 wrap in swaddling clothes wordnet
Example
More examples"Their children are never swathed, or bound about with any thing when they are first born' but are put naked into the bed with their parents to lie."
Etymology
From Middle English swathe, swath, from Old English swaþu, swæþ (“bandage”), probably akin to Old English swaþul, sweþel (“a swathe, wrap, band, bandage”).
From Middle English swathen, from Old English *swaþian, akin to Old English besweþian (“to swathe, swaddle”).
From Middle English swathe, from Old English swaþu (“track, trace”), from Proto-Germanic *swaþō. More at swath.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.