zwae

Probably from Middle English sweyen (“to go, to drop”), from Old Norse sveigja, from Proto-Germanic *swaigijaną.

The attested senses are a semantic loan from English sway; presumably this word had unattested senses directly inherited from Middle English.

• IPA^(key): /zwiː/

zwae

1. rule
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 2-4:

     ye wake o'hopes ee-blighte, stampe na yer zwae be rare an lightzom.

     the consequence of disappointed hopes, confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened.

zwae

1. to govern
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 18-19:

     Wee dwyth ye ane fose dais be gien var ee gudevare o'ye londe ye zwae,

     We behold in you one whose days are devoted to the welfare of the land you govern,

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 114