swod

Noun

swad (plural swads)

1. A bunch, clump, mass
   • "[…]Ye'd oughta see th' swad a' chil'ren I've got, an' all like that."1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter X, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 102

   Synonyms:

   bunch, clump, mass

2. (obsolete, slang) A crowd; a group of people.
3. (obsolete) A boor, lout.
   • Sham’st thou not coistrel, loathsome dunghill swad.1591, unknown author, The Troublesome Reign of King John, scene 2
4. A thin layer of refuse at the bottom of a seam.
5. (Northern, UK, dialectal, obsolete) A cod, or pod, as of beans or peas.
   • They must bee gathered in the decrease of the moone, presently vpon their being ripe, for else they drie vp and fall out of their swads:1600, Charles Estienne, Maison Rustique, Or The Covntrie Farme, page 695