swertia

[Named by Linnæus after Emmanuel Swert, author of Florilegium (1612).] Bot.: A genus of Gentianese. Calyx five-parted, corolla rotate, five-cleft; fruit, one-celled, two valved, seeds winged. Pretty herbs with blue flowers. Swertia perennis was once erroneously supposed to have been found in Wales. An infusion of the leaves is used by the Ru ians as a medicine, and the leaves themselves are applied by the Tartars to wounds. S. (or Agathotes ) chirata is the chirata (q. v.). swerve, *swarve (pa. t. * swarf , * swerf , swerved; pa. par. swerved ), v. i . & t . [A. S. sweorfan (pa. t. swearf ; pa. par. sworfen )=to rub, to file, to polish; cogn. with Dut. zwerven to swerve, to wander; swerve Old Saxon swerban =to wipe; O. Fris. swerva =to creep; Icel. sverfa =to file; Goth. biswairban =to wipe; cf. Danish svirre to whirl round; svire to revel, to riot; closely connected with swarm (q.v.).] A. Intransitive : *1. To wander, to rove, to stray. *2. To turn to one side, to incline, to waver. "But, swerving from the Knight's career, Just as they met, Bruce shunn'd the spear." Scott: Lord of the Isles, vi. 15. 3. To wander or turn aside from the prescribed or proper line or rule of duty; to depart or deviate from that which is established by law, duty, or custom. "Britons rarely swerve From law, however stern, which tends their strength to nerve." Byron: Childe Harold , ii. xix. 4. To climb or move upward by winding or turning; to swarm. "Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerv'd." Dryden: Theocritus, id. iii. *B. Trans.: To cause to turn aside; to turn. " Swerved them from the former good constitution."_ Gauden: Tears of the Church , p. 460. swerve, s. [SWERVE, v. ] A movement or turning to one side. "Disturbed in their equilibrium by an extra swerve of the pole."- Field , Sept. 4, 1886. sweth, subst. [Etym. doubtful; cf. O. Low Ger. suit lauch sweet leek.] Bot.: Allium schœnoprasum. swev-en, *swev-ene, s . [A. S. swefen, swefn; Icel. svefn ; O. Low Ger. sweven .] Sleep; a dream. ""Now God,' quod he, 'my sweven rede aright, And keep my body out of foul prisoun!"" Chaucer: C. Т. , 16,382. *swev-en, v . i . [SWEVEN, 8.] To sleep, to dream. "And Pandar us, with a full good entent, Laied him to slepe, and saied, 'If ye be wise, Sweveneth not now, lest more folke arise." Chaucer: Troilus and Cre ida , bk. iii. *swich-en, s. [Etym. doubtful.] Bot.: Senecio vulgar is . swid-děr, s. & v. [SWITHER.]