Forms: 1, 7–8 sweard, 4 suerd, 5 swerde, swarde, 5–6 sworde, 5–9 (now dial.) swerd, 6 suard, swart, 6–7 swarde, 6–8 Sc. swaird, 7 swort, 7–9 sword, 5– sward. See also SWAD sb.1 β. 6 soord, 6–7 soard, 7 sourd, 7–9 (now dial.) sord. [OE. sweard ? m., corresp. to OFris. swarde f., skin of the head (NFris. swârd, sûrd, EFris. swôed, swode, WFris. swaerd rind of pork, surface of fenland), MLG. swarde f., thick hairy skin, esp. scalp of man, skin of pig, (LG. swaarde, also grönswaarde greensward), MDu. swarde f. (Du. † swaerd, † zwaard, mod. zwoord n., infl. by Fris. forms), MHG. swarte f., hairy skin, scalp, bacon rind, (G. schwarte), ON. svörðr, gen. svarðar, skin, esp. of the head, walrus hide, svarð- in comb., greensward, walrus hide, (Icel. grassvörðr greensward, MSw. grönsvärdher greensward, Sw. dial. svärd, Norw. svord, svor skin, greensward, also grassvord, -svoor, Da. svær, also fleskesvær bacon rind, grømsvær); f. Teut. stem sward-, swarð-: swarþ- (see SWARTH sb.1), the ultimate origin of which is unknown. The OE. word, if indeed it survived, was reinforced in ME. by the Scandinavian forms, and possibly from LG.]
1. The skin of the body; esp. (now dial.) the rind of pork or bacon. † Head sward: the scalp.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), V. 222. Vistula, suʓesweard.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 265/9. Cutis, sweard.
13[?]. K. Alis., 5950. Caluȝ was his heuede swerd.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xlv. (Christina), 227. Þat Iuge … gert tak hyr in teyne, & schawe hir heid to þe suerd.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 6. Sethe … porke þer-ynne, an pulle of þe swerde, an pyke owt þe bonys.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 482/1. Swarde, or sworde of flesche, coriana.
1607. Lingua, II. i. C iv. If they would … brandish no swords but sweards of Bacon.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. cii. 385. Annoynt the cronet of the hoofe with the fat swarde of bacon.
1663. Cowley, Ess. Verse & Pr., Country Mouse, 19. And for a Haut goust there was mixt with these The swerd of Bacon, and the coat of Cheese.
1747–96. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, v. 85. To dress a ham à la braise, take off the swerd.
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 133, note. She [sc. a sow] proved when fat, good bacon, juicy and tender; the rind or sword was remarkably thin.
β. 1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. ii. 36. Reez’d bacon soords shall feast his familie.
1598. Florio, Cotenna … the soard [ed. 1611 sord] of bakon.
2. † a. Usually with defining phr. of the earth, etc.: The surface or upper layer of ground usually covered with herbage. Obs.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 58. Se not the swerd al nakid, white, vnclene.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 506. Turfe of flagge, swarde of þe erþe (S. turfe, flag, or sward of erþ), cespes, terricidium.
1473. Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879), I. 171. They sal neuer cast [= dig] bot onder a fourhed, leuand a pairt of the mos in the ground and fylland behynd tham with the sward of the mos.
a. 1552. Leland, Itin. (1712), VIII. 119. Ovar growen in the Swart with fine Grase.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xvi. in Holinshed, I. 91 b/2. Great plentye of water … betweene the new loose swart and the olde hard earth,… being drawne awaie.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XVI. xxxi. I. 477. The roots of the Apple-tree, Olive, and Cypresse, lie very ebbe, and creepe hard under the sourd of the ground.
1626. A. Speed, Adam out of E., xvi. (1659), 138. Some will burn to Ashes, Roots, and Stubble, the sword and swarth of the Ground.
b. Qualified by green, grassy, grass, of grass, etc.: The surface of soil covered with grass or other herbage; turf, GREENSWARD.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. iii. 65. A pair of dowis … on the greyn sward thair place tuke law.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 336. A prety hillocke to be seene apparelled in a fresh suit of green sord.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 433. Ith’ midst an Altar as the Land-mark stood Rustic, of grassie sord.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., IV. ii. Prol. The green swaird grows damp with falling dew.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, III. 417. If the Turf hath a good Sward of Grass upon it.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 9. The western mountains … are mostly covered with a fine green sward.
1866. Livingstone, Last Jrnls. (1873), I. xii. 326. The grassy sward.
1881. ‘Rita,’ My Lady Coquette, iv. The grass sward … slopes invitingly before her.
c. Without qualification: = b.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 520. The sueit sawour of the sward, and singing of foulis.
1512. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 797/2. Una cum acra de le suard vel medow pro pastura animalium.
1530. Palsgr., 284/1. Turfe flagge sworde, tourbe.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv., 34. So cut the Turfe, that the Soard may have all the Winters frost to wroxe, and moulder it.
1660. Sharrock, Vegetables, 90. Plant them thereupon with the Soard downward.
1747. E. Poston, Pratler, I. 85. The Sord which I pared off the Earth, commonly called Turf.
1785. Burns, Addr. Deil, xv. The fragrant, flow’ry swaird.
1794. Vancouver, Agric. Cambridge, 177. The toughness of the fen swerd.
1832. Tennyson, Œnone, 3. There is a dale in Ida,… beautiful With emerald slopes of sunny sward.
1834. Brit. Husb., I. 80. The grass of lawns, mown solely to keep the sward in order.
1837. Lytton, E. Maltrav., I. ix. The moonlight slept soft upon the sward.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 36. It has become the fashion … to break up the sward of the downs.
(b) A growth of grass; a stretch of greensward.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xx. 289. The Grass from the Edges will spread and form a new Turf (or Swerd) on the other Side.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 619. To make a close thick sward.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. i. A considerable plot toward the centre presented a level sward.
1881. Darwin, Veg. Mould, 10. Wherever a path crosses a heath its surface becomes covered with a fine short sward.
† 3. transf. The surface (of water). nonce-use.
1606. S. Gardiner, Bk. Angling, 22. Such as plodde wholy in the mudde and myre of the worlde, will neuer rise vp to the sword of the water.
4. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 2), as sward ground, land; sward-crested, -like adjs.; sward-cut v., trans. to cut (land) with a sward-cutter; sward-cutter, an implement for cutting a tough sward in preparation for plowing; sward-earth, † (a) Sc. grass-land; (b) turf.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xxv. (1858), 558. The *sward-crested trap-rock.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), I. 276/1. The land may lie several months in winter after being *sward-cut. Ibid. One *sward-cutter will cut as much in one day as six ploughs will plough.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Sward-cutter, a machine for bringing old grass-lands into tillage.
1799. View Agric. Lincoln., 71. A *sward-dresser has been found very useful upon the meadows and pastures of Brothertoft.
1541. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 565/1. Marresiam de Farneis et lie *swarde-yird ejusdem. Ibid. (1634), 19/2. Cum eorum terris tam arabilibus quam non arabilibus lie sward-eardis.
1852. Wiggins, Embanking, 237. A tile drain on a sole filled part of the way, say 1 foot, over, with any loose material, and the sward earth over that.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 241. The greene grasse and *sword ground.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 604. That potatoes may be grown in a very beneficial manner on *sward lands.
1905. Westm. Gaz., 31 July, 4/1. Old sward land.
