swad1 (swod)

[ There was one busy fellow was their leader, A blunt squat swad , but lower than yourself. B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1. 2. A rude, coarse fellow; a clown; a country bumpkin. Let country swains and silly swads be still. Greene, Madrigal. After we had finished, swabbed down decks, and coiled up the rigging, I sat on the spars, waiting for. the sig- nal for breakfast. R. H. Dana , Jr., Before the Mast, p. 8. 3. A soldier. See swaddy2 . [Slang.] swabl (swob), n. Swaddling-bands. Prior , Alma, ii. She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Luke ii. 7. The duomo of Zara, if it were only stripped of its swad dling clothes, would be no contemptible specimen of its own style. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 131.