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sway

Pronunciation: /ˈsweɪ̯/

The English word “sway” has 16 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
  2. A rocking or swinging motion.
  3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
  4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
  5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
  6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
  7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.
  8. Synonym of sweet flag (“Acorus calamus”)

verb

  1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.
  2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
  3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.
  4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; to warp.
  5. To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.
  6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
  7. To have weight or influence.
  8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Etymology

From earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old English *swǣġan (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-West Germanic *swaigijan, from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₁- See also Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”); also Lithuanian svai̇̃gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬱𐬑𐬎𐬀𐬑𐬙𐬀 (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.