Obs. [f. SWART a. In OE. sweartian, corresp. to MLG. swarten, also swerten, OHG. suarzên, MHG. swarzen, also OHG. suarz(i)an, suerzen, MHG. swerzen (G. schwärzen); cf. ON. svartaðr dyed black.]
1. intr. To become swart, dark or dusky.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xviii. 151. Erne ða aras se wind and ða wolcnu sweartodon.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 104. Þanne sweartiʓeð hy [sc. the teeth] & fealleð.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, V. 86. Hir colour gay So bright that was, beginnes to swarte.
2. trans. To make swart; to darken (esp. the skin or complexion).
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., N j. Vulcane beyng … swarted with the … smoke of his forge.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, VI. 217. The skinne it scorching swarts.
1628. Britain’s Ida, in Spenser’s Wks. (1862), 502/2. Jove upon him downe his thunder darted, Blasting his splendent face, and all his beauty swarted.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., VI. x. 326. The heate of the Sun, whose fervor may swarte a living part, and even black a dead or dissolving flesh.
