(Most other dictionaries keep them separate.) Brown, a poet and literature professor at Howard University, published a forthright essay charting the history of Black life in his hometown of Washington, DC—from the district’s early status as the “very seat and center” of... Eleven newsletters to subscribe to if you work in media, Delacorte Lectures on Magazine Journalism, Magazines and their websites: A CJR survey and report, © Copyright 2020 Columbia Journalism Review. In Middle English the term denoted a measure of the width of grassland, probably reckoned by a sweep of the mower's scythe. ( Log Out /  In some local English counties, a “swatch” is “A passage or channel of water lying between sandbanks or between a sandbank and the shore,” the OED says. Examples. Looking back to the original edition of Modern English Usage (1926), we find that Fowler was uncharacteristically liberal, allowing either swath or swathe, and tolerating both the “sworth” and “swaithe” pronunciations, as well as a third one with a short “o”: “swoth”. NOTE: The noun swath denotes the narrow path of cut grass made by a scythe or mower. A swathe (/ ˈ s w eɪ ð /: rhymes with "bathe") or swath (/ ˈ s w ɒ θ /: rhymes with "cloth") is the width of a scythe stroke or a mowing-machine blade, the path of this width made in mowing or the mown grass or grain lying on such a path. I always figured there must be a tiny difference in meaning between the two that I didn’t understand; good to know that they’re interchangeable! It seems that the high winds cut a swath through our neighborhood last night, blowing down trees and power lines on nearly every street. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English의 정의 swathe swathe 1 / sweɪð $ swɑːð, swɒːð, sweɪð / (also swath / swɒθ $ swɑːθ /) noun [countable] 1 a long thin area of something, especially land swathe of The bomb had left a swathe of the town centre in ruins. Like Liked by 1 person What does swathe mean? This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Swath. Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1996) gives only the swath spelling; even more curiously, he claims that it is pronounced “sworth” (as if it rhymes with southern British “fourth”). “Swath” is frequently accompanied by its close friend “wide,” or one of “wide’s” cousins, “vast,” “broad,” or “large.” “Narrow,” “little,” and “small,” are rarely invited to the “swath” party. I pronounce swath with the broad a of father and the unvoiced sound of th as in thin. It seems that the high winds cut a swath through our neighborhood last night, blowing down trees and power lines on nearly every street. This is endorsed by the American Merriam-Webster dictionary, which spells this word swath. swathe: 1 v wrap in swaddling clothes Synonyms: swaddle Type of: bind make fast; tie or secure, with or as if with a rope n an enveloping bandage Synonyms: wrapping Type of: bandage , patch a piece of soft material that covers and protects an injured part of the body Everything we do at Swathe.me makes every day better during difficult times. It refers to (1) the width of a scythe stroke, (2) a path made by mowing, or (3) something likened to a path made by mowing. But the OED says the phrase is “Now frequently to cut a wide swath.” Americans always like to supersize things. to wrap, bind, or swaddle with bands of some material; wrap up closely or fully. Swath is only a noun. Het verschil is dat een SWATH de oppervlakte van de waterlijn zo klein mogelijk is. 1 : to bind, wrap, or swaddle with or as if with a bandage. Most modern dictionaries prefer swathe: Oxford Dictionaries online has swatheand labels swath ‘chiefly N. American’. Swathe is usually a verb, meaning, primarily, to wrap or bind with or as if with bandage. Nowadays, we mostly see “swath” as the noun and “swathe” as the verb. Either that, or the gentleman in question merely pronounces the word differently. Change ), For anyone interested in words and spellings, Spelling Trouble prepares to bring in the harvest. Both spellings swath and swathe are clearly acceptable, but swathe seems the more common in British usage. Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary. 2. The noun and verb meaning ‘a bandage or wrapping’ and ‘to wrap in bandages’ is spelt… ( Log Out /  This spelling is etymologically justified, since the word descends from Old English swæþ, with a short vowel. Yes, swath to rhyme with moth and swathe to rhyme with bathe. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. To wrap or bind in bandages. OED lists swath by itself, thus: 1 swath1, swathe . Swath vs. swathe. As is often the way when consulting dictionaries and usage guides, things are not much clearer than when I began. It’s also likely to “cut a wide swath” in the slang sense, appearing pompous, and could mow down a “swath” of your readers. For a time in the 16th century, a “swatch” was also a row of cut corn or grass, even though we already had “swath.” Of course, we didn’t have good dictionaries then, either. * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4 The head was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stained and discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, and beneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped. swath, swathe The word meaning ‘a ridge of grass left after mowing’ and ‘a strip’ is spelt swath (pronounced swawth; preferred) or swathe (pronounced swaydh). 3 : a … From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English swathe swathe 1 / sweɪð $ swɑːð, swɒːð, sweɪð / (also swath / swɒθ $ swɑːθ /) noun [countable] 1 a long thin area of something, especially land swathe of The bomb had left a swathe of the town centre in ruins. We make it easy to give practical support to someone you know, even when you can’t be there in person. 2 : envelop a mountain swathed by clouds. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Good thing, too, since the citations are spelled “swæð” and “swæðe,” which would be hard to master today. The United States, as is often the case, has come up with its own slang for a “swath.” “To cut a swath” is “to make a pompous display, swagger, ‘cut a dash,’” the OED says, tracing that usage to 1848. 2 swath2, swathe . The noun and verb meaning ‘a bandage or wrapping’ and ‘to wrap in bandages’ is spelt… A swath is a wide strip of something or a wide are of land.Swath may refer to the width of a row of vegetation that may be cut with one swipe of a scythe or a mower. Of “swath,” “swathe,” and “swatch,” “swath” is the most common, according to this Google N-gram showing its appearance in books since 1800 or so. ICYMI: Eleven newsletters to subscribe to if you work in media. If like me you enjoy exploring changes in pronunciation, read the middle as well. But did you know that “swath” has a fraternal twin, “swathe,” which rhymes with “bathe”? Curiously, R.W. That spike in the use of “swatch” starting around 1980 may be tied to the introduction of “Swatch” watches in the late 1970s. In the Backstory section at the beginning of the rules it says "With characters from five factions converging onto a small but highly desired swath of land..." This made me stop and think because, as a Definition of swathe (Entry 2 of 2) transitive verb. 2 : a long broad strip or belt. Another word for swath: area, section, stretch, patch, tract | Collins English Thesaurus Despite its Style Guide’s restriction of swathe to the word for strips of material in which something is wrapped, or swathed (like a baby in swaddling clothes), this spelling is frequently used in place of swath, as in this headline from 2010: ‘Public spending axe to cut swathe through private sector’. As a verb swatch is to create a swatch. By 1647, a “swatch” had become a sample of cloth, then a sample of anything. Although this spelling may be etymologically justified, it should properly be a spending scythe rather than an axe. A photo accompanying the article shows a typical tornado scene, a long strip of damage that looks as if a scythe had cut through it. The verb “swathe,” meaning “To envelop in a swathe or swathes; to wrap up, swaddle, bandage,” traces to the 12th century, the OED says. Of “swath,” “swathe,” and “swatch,” “swath” is the most common, according to this Google N-gram showing its appearance in books since 1800 or so. Definition of swath. [swäth, swôth] n. [ME swathe < OE swathu, a track, akin to Ger schwade, space covered by a scythe swing: for IE base see SWATHE1] 1. the space or width covered with one cut of a scythe or other mowing device 2. swathe definition: 1. a long strip or large area especially of land: 2. a large part of something that includes…. Astute readers might remember that we talked about “swath” and “swathe” in a column on how adding the letter “e” can turn a noun into a verb, and that we noted how both “swath” and “swathe” mean strips of things. to wrap, bind, or swaddle with bands of some material; wrap up closely or fully. b. The mown grass or grain lying on such a path. Rare a stroke with a scythe 3. a ing, swathes. ( Log Out /  swath, swathe The word meaning ‘a ridge of grass left after mowing’ and ‘a strip’ is spelt swath (pronounced swawth; preferred) or swathe (pronounced swaydh). To wrap, as in layers of cloth: swathed herself in towels. The spelling swath stood out to me – I would spell this word swathe. Another close relative of “swath” is “swatch,” as in an article discussing a hailstorm that “cut across a wide swatch of the region.” (Note that the online headline, though, used “wide swath.” There they go again. Checking the paper’s Style Guide confirmed that this is indeed the paper’s preferred spelling for this word, which refers to a broad strip of land – technically the amount of land that can be covered in one swing of a scythe. * Archbishop Abbot ; Their children are never swathed or bound about with anything when they are first born. I was looking at the WeirdNet definitions for swath (here) and swathe (there). I think aesthetically I prefer swathe. to enfold or envelop, as wrappings do. The word swath is derived from the Old English word swæth, which means trace or track.. Because, the OED says, “Swath” and swathe” are “phonetically ambiguous,” though they sound very different. Why? Today’s Guardian newspaper has an article alerting its readers to the threat of smog, which begins: ‘People across large swaths of England and Wales have been put on high alert over severe levels of air pollution smothering the south coast and several major cities’. b : the sweep of a scythe or a machine in mowing or the path cut in one course. What does swathe expression mean? This is aimed at Jamey, but I would be interested to hear others' opinions. That scythe indirectly gave us “swath.” A “swath” is “a row of cut grain or grass left by a scythe or mowing machine,” Merriam-Webster says, and by extension, a long strip of something that looks like a scythe had been there. Our direct support platform is free and simple to use so that together, we can make a difference every day. If you repeat that n-gram search with “Swatch” instead of “swatch,” you’ll see that “Swatch” outperformed “swath” for a time in the early part of the 21st century, before sharply falling (though whether there is a connection with the popularity of the watches themselves, we can’t say). The origin of “swatch,” the OED says, was 1527, defined as “The ‘foil’ or ‘counterstock’ of a tally (obsolete); in Yorkshire, a tally ‘affixed to a piece of cloth before it is put with others into the dye-kettle.’” Of course it was. Definition of cut a swathe through in the Idioms Dictionary. The verb swathe means “to wrap up, swaddle or bandage.” If all you want from this article is to know how to pronounce swath and swathe, please skip the middle and read the part that begins, “My advice to speakers.” If like me you enjoy exploring changes in pronunciation, read the middle as well. Verb (swath) To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers. Searching The Guardian online reveals that this is true of that paper too. The first: 1. Obs. Definition of swath written for English Language Learners from the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary with audio pronunciations, usage examples, and count/noncount noun labels. ICYMI: A big day for The Denver Post newsroom staff. The OED says the etymology of “swatch” is unknown, so it may or may not related to “swath.”. to … Daniel Jones Pronouncing Dictionary This British reference, published 1967, gives one pronunciation for the spelling … Definition of swathe in the Idioms Dictionary. But look at the fourth definition: “swath,” referring readers to the second definition of “swath,” “a long broad strip or belt.”. (And see how it related to “track”?). Swathe [swaythe] functions as both a noun and as a verb. to bandage. Something likened to a swath, especially a strip, path, or extension: "the motor humming as a girl on skis cut a swath … As a noun, swathe means “a band of linen, woolen, or other material in which something is enveloped.” As a verb, swathe means, “to envelop in a swathe or swathes; to wrap up, swaddle, bandage.” Around 1325, the OED says, a “swath/swathe” was “The space covered by a sweep of the mower’s scythe; the width of grass or corn so cut, and the road left behind.” That’s similar to M-W’s first definition. Their first appearance was around 888, the OED says, an Old English word for a “track” or “trace,” now considered obsolete. Using “swathe” as a noun is likely to have readers thinking for a second that it’s the verb “swathe,” meaning to wrap in “swaths” of bandages. lit. They appear to mean quite separate things. ), But most people don’t think of a “swatch” as a row; it’s a patch, as in a “swatch” of fabric, which is Merriam-Webster’s first definition. Additional information. 1. a. 2. The verb swathe means “to wrap up, swaddle or bandage.”. To enfold or envelop. swathe 1 (swoᵺ, swāᵺ), USA pronunciation v., swathed, swath•ing, n. v.t. If all you want from this article is to know how to pronounce swath and swathe, please skip the middle and read the part that begins, “My advice to speakers.”. Despite its Style Guide’s restriction of swathe to the word for strips of material in which something is wrapped, or swathed (like a baby in swaddling clothes), this spelling is frequently used in place of swath, as in this headline from 2010: ‘Public spending axe to cut swathe through private sector’. Burchfield’s third edition of H.W. As nouns the difference between swath and swatch is that swath is the track cut out by a scythe in mowing while swatch is a piece, pattern, or sample, generally of cloth or a similar material. cut a swathe through phrase. SWATH Perseus van het Loodswezen in Hoek van Holland SWATH ("Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull") is een rompontwerp dat net zoals de catamaran twee rompen heeft. ing. Learn more. noun Word forms: plural swaths (swɔːðz) or swathes 1. the width of one sweep of a scythe or of the blade of a mowing machine 2. and fig. swathe phrase. But since the sixteenth century this word has been pronounced with a long vowel, and spelled accordingly; early spellings include swaithe, sweath and swathe. What does cut a swathe through expression mean? Old English swæth, swathu ‘track, trace’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch zwad (e) and German Schwade. Even though a scythe is not that wide, “swath” seems to have grown in scale. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. In 1937, Sterling A. In some local English counties, a “swatch” is “A passage or channel of water lying between sandbanks or between a sandbank and the shore,” the OED says. Today, it’s usually used in the third, figurative sense. ( Log Out /  Main meanings of swathe in English : swathe 1 swathe 2 (verb) Clouds swathed the mountain. Searching The Guardian online reveals that this is true of that paper too. “Swath” is probably also going to be more familiar to audiences. Both spellings swath and swathe are clearly acceptable, but swathe seems the more common in British usage. 1 a : a row of cut grain or grass left by a scythe or mowing machine. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a tornado “carved a swath through the Arena Hub Plaza” in June, a local newspaper wrote. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. “Swath” and swathe” are so close, in fact, that they share an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. Track, trace. 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