swathe
UK/sweɪð//swɑð/
swathe noun: a bandage; a band. Also the alternative form of swath.
Noun
swathe (plural swathes)
- A bandage; a band.
Verb
swathe (third-person singular simple present swathes, present participle swathing, simple past and past participle swathed)
- To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers
- Their children are never swathed, or bound about with any thing when they are first born' but are put naked into the bed with their parents to lie.1664, A briefe description of the whole world wherein is particularly described all the monarchies, empires, and kingdoms of the same, with their academies, as also their severall titles and...
- The head was swathed in linen bands that had been white, but were now stained and discoloured with damp, but of this I shall not speak more, and beneath the chin-cloth the beard had once escaped.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC
Also used as
swathe is also the alternative form of swath.
Examples of swathe in a sentence
- Alderman Flapp emerged, swathed in a comforter and in a flowing self-consciousness of equity, Mr.
- Animals became gigantic, plants struggled to adapt, and oxygen became so available that fire destroyed huge swathes of trees.
- Much of the man's time is currently spent broadcasting racist and hateful ideas to large swathes of the US.
Forms of swathe
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | swathes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | swathes |
| present participle | swathing |
| past participle | swathed |
| past | swathed |
Origin of swathe
From Middle English swathe, swath, from Old English swaþu, swæþ (“bandage”), probably akin to Old English swaþul, sweþel (“a swathe, wrap, band, bandage”).
From Middle English swathen, from Old English *swaþian, akin to Old English besweþian (“to swathe, swaddle”).
From Middle English swathe, from Old English swaþu (“track, trace”), from Proto-Germanic *swaþō. More at swath.
Words formed from swathe
Phrases with swathe
Words that rhyme with swathe
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about swathe
- What does swathe mean?
- Swathe means a bandage; a band.
- What part of speech is swathe?
- Swathe can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce swathe?
- Swathe is pronounced /sweɪð/ (UK).
- What is the plural of swathe?
- The plural of swathe is swathes.
Words near swathe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swathe (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-swathe.ogg, en-au-swathe.ogg.
Cite this entry: “swathe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swathe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.