swampy (swompi)

[ Susquehanna's swampy ground. Scott , Marmion, iii. 9. swan1 (swon), n. [ ME.swan , swon , swan = MD. swaen , D. zwaan = MLG. swan , swane = OHG. swan, m., swan a, f., MHG. swan, swane, G. schwan = Icel. svanr = Sw. svan = Dan. svane = Goth. * swans (not recorded), a swan; perhaps allied to Skt. √ svan, L. sonare, sound: see soundo. Cf. AS. han a = G. hahn, etc., a cock, as related to L. canere, sing: see hen1.] 1. A large lamellirostral palmiped bird, of the family Anatidæ and subfamily Cygninæ, with a long and flexible neck, naked naked lores, reticulate tarsi, and simple or slightly lobed hallux. The neck is usually held in a graceful curve while the bird is swimming; the inner flight-feathers are usually enlarged, and capable of being erected or set like sails to waft the bird over the water; and in most of the species the plumage of the adults is snow-white in both sexes. The young of the white species are usually grayish or brownish; they are called cygnets. Swans walk awkwardly on land, in consequence of the backward position of the legs, but their movements on the water are exceptionally graceful and stately. Hence they are very ornamental, and some of them have been kept from time immemorial in a state of domestication. Swans are chiefly herbivorous. The flesh is edible, and the plumage furnishes the valuable swan's-down. There are 8 or 10 species, found in most parts of the world, except Africa. The ordinary white swans fall into two groups - Cygnus proper, with a knob on the beak, and Olor, without a knob; the latter are also distinguished by the resonant quality of the voice, due to the convolutions of the windpipe in the cavity of the breast-bone. In Europe four kinds of swans are found: (1) the common "tame" or mute swan, usually seen in domestication, C. gibbus (by the rules of nomenclature also European White Swan (Cygnus olor). called C. olor ), with a knob on the beak, wedge-shaped tail, and no tracheal convolutions; (2) the elk, hooper, whooper, or whistling-swan, Olor cygnus or Cygnus (0.) music us or fer us, sometimes specified as the "wild" swan; (3) Bewick's swan, C. (O.) bewicki; (4) the Polish swan, C. (O.) immutabilis. Two kinds of swans are common in North America, both belonging, like the three named last, to Olor: these are the whistling-swan, C. (O.) american us or columbia nus, and the trumpeter, C. (O.) buccinator; the former has a small yellow spot on each side of the beak, and is smaller than the latter, of which the beak is entirely black. The black-necked swan of South America Black-necked Swan (Sthenelides melanocoryphus). is C. ( Sthenelides ) nigricollis or melanocoryphus, with a frontal knob, and the body, wings, and tail pure-white. The black swan of Australia is Chenopsis (usually miscalled Chenopis ) atratus, almost entirely black, with white Black Swans (Chenopsis atratus) swanky on the wing (some feathers of which are curly), carmine and white bill, and red eyes; it is easily acclimatized, and is often seen in domestication. A gigantic fo il swan, or swan-like goose, from the bone-caves of Malta, is known as Palæocygnus falconer i. The popular notion that the swan sings just before dying has no foundation in fact. The jelous swan agens hire deth that syngeth. Chaucer , Parliament of Fowls, 1. 342. 2. In her., a bearing representing a swan, usually with the wings raised as it carries them when swimming. It is therefore not nece ary to say in the blazon "with wings indorsed." See below.-3. In astron. See Cygnus, 2.Black swan. (a) Something very rare, or supposed to be non-existent; araraavis used like white row, and some other apparent contradictions in terms. [The phrase arose at a time when only white swans were known.] The abuse of such places [theaters] was so great that for any chaste liuer to haunt them was a black swan , and a white crowe. Go on, Schoole of Abuse. (b) See def. 1.- Chained swan, in her., a swan represented with some kind of collar about its neck, to which a chain is secured, which may be either carried to a ring or staple, or pa ed in a curve over the bird's neck, between its wings, or the like. The swan ducally gorged and chained is the well-known badge of the Bohuns, adopted by the Lancastrian kings. - Demi-swan, in her., a swan with only so much of the body showing as rises above the water when it is swimming, the wings either indorsed or expanded. - Order of the Swan, a Pru ian order founded by the elector Frederick II., Margrave of Brandenburg, in 1440, renewed by Frederick William IV., King of Prus sia, in 1843.- Swan close, in her., a bearing representing a swan with the wings close to its side. - Wild swan, any feral swan; specifically, Cygnus fer us (C. music us ): So called in distinction from the "tame" or mute swan. See def. 1. A melody loud and sweet, That made the wild - swan pause in her cloud. Tennyson, The Poet's Song.