This week’s theme
Nouns that are also verbs

This week’s words
pinion
deacon
infame
scend
swan

This week’s comments
AWADmail 1079

Next week’s theme
Unusual synonyms

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(swan)

MEANING:

noun:	1. Any of various long-necked large waterbirds, usually in white plumage.
	2. Someone or something of unusual beauty, grace, purity, etc.
verb intr.:	1. To move about in an idle, aimless way. 2. To declare or to swear.

ETYMOLOGY:

For verb 2: From shortening of “I shall warrant” or “I swear on”.
For the rest: From Old English swan. Ultimately from the Indo-European root swen- (to sound), which also gave us sound, sonic, sonnet, sonata, and unison.
Earliest documented use: for noun: 700; for verb 1: 1893; for verb 2: 1823.

USAGE:

“[François Poulain] scoffs at Europeans who swan around thinking they are better than everyone else.”
Judith Shulevitz; I Found the Feminism I Was Looking for in the Lost Writings of a 17th-Century Priest; The Atlantic (New York); Sep 2021.

“‘It will be okay,’ he said. ‘I swan.’”
Homer Hickam; Red Helmet; Thomas Nelson; 2008.

See more usage examples of swan in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: