Word.ws English Dictionary

swains

swains is the plural of swain.

Meaning of swain

Noun

swain (plural swains)

  1. (obsolete) A young man or boy in service; a servant.
  2. (obsolete) A knight's servant; an attendant.
  3. (archaic) A country labourer; a countryman, a rustic.
    • theſe that ſeeme but ſilly country Swaines,
      May haue the leading of so great an hoſte,
      As with their waight ſhal make the mountains quake.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  4. (poetic) A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting.
    • Why thus from the Plain does my Shepherdess rove
      Forsaking Her Swain and neglecting his love?a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Chanson Francoise. Translated”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press...

See all 5 meanings of swain

Proper noun capitalized: Swains

Swains

  1. (plural) plural of Swain

Phrases with swains

Questions about swains

What is swains the plural of?
Swains is the plural of swain.
What part of speech is swains?
Swains is a proper noun.

Words near swains in the dictionary

  1. swainishness
  2. swainling
  3. swainlings
  4. swainmote
  5. swainmotes
  6. swains
  7. Swains Island
  8. Swainsboro
  9. swainship
  10. Swainson
  11. Swainson pea

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: swains (page history and authors); Swains (page history and authors); swain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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