Chapter Swallower to Swartiness of S by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Swallower to Swartiness

Swallower
(Swal"low*er) n. One who swallows; also, a glutton. Tatler.

Swallowfish
(Swal"low*fish`) n. (Zoöl.) The European sapphirine gurnard (Trigla hirundo). It has large pectoral fins.

Swallowtail
(Swal"low*tail`) n.

1. (Carp.) A kind of tenon or tongue used in making joints. See Dovetail.

2. (Bot.) A species of willow.

3. (Fort.) An outwork with converging sides, its head or front forming a reëntrant angle; — so called from its form. Called also priestcap.

4. A swallow-tailed coat.

This Stultz coat, a blue swallowtail, with yellow buttons.

Thackeray.

5. An arrow. Sir W. Scott.

6. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of large and handsome butterflies, belonging to Papilio and allied genera, in which the posterior border of each hind wing is prolongated in the form of a long lobe.

The black swallowtail, or asterias the blue swallowtail, or philenor, the tiger swallowtail, or turnus (see Turnus), and the zebra swallowtail, or ajax (see under Zebra) are common American species. See also Troilus.

Swallow-tailed
(Swal"low-tailed`) a.

1. Having a tail like that of a swallow; hence, like a swallow's tail in form; having narrow and tapering or pointed skirts; as, a swallow-tailed coat.

2. (Carp.) United by dovetailing; dovetailed.

Swallow-tailed duck (Zoöl.), the old squaw. — Swallow-tailed gull (Zoöl.), an Arctic gull which has a deeply forked tail. — Swallow-tailedhawk or kite (Zoöl.), the fork- tailed kite. — Swallow-tailed moth (Zoöl.), a European moth (Urapteryx sambucaria) having tail-like lobes on the hind wings.

Swallowwort
(Swal"low*wort`) n. (Bot.) (a) See Celandine. (b) A poisonous plant (Vincetoxicum officinale) of the Milkweed family, at one time used in medicine; — also called white swallowwort.

African swallowwort, a plant of the genus Stapelia.

Swam
(Swam) imp. of Swim.

Swamp
(Swamp) n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. svöppr, Dan. & Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.] Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore.

Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.

Tennyson.

A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses.

Farming Encyc. (E. Edwards, Words).

Swamp blackbird. (Zoöl.) See Redwing (b). — Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage. — Swamp deer (Zoöl.), an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India. — Swamp hen. (Zoöl.) (a) An Australian