A Dictionary of Cont..

swear like a tinker, a ruffian, an abbot, a gentleman,
and a lord. In the eighteenth century the
English milord was so famed throughout
Europe for his profanity that he was known as
n goddam. There must have been more to it,
however, than this one expletive. “A footman,”
Swift said, “may swear, but he cannot swear
like a lord. He may swear as often, but can he
swear with equal delicacy, propriety and judgment?”
A trooper’s swearing was, presumably,
more marked by vigor than by delicacy, propriety,
or judgment. The phrase to swear like
a trooper is now a cliche.
sweat. The past tense is sweat or sweated. The
participle is also sweat or sweated. In the United
States sweat is the preferred form for the past
tense and the participle, as in he sweat during
the night and he has sweat a great deal. This
is no longer heard in Great Britain, where they
would say he sweated during the night. In ‘both
Great Britain and the United States, sweated
is the required form when the verb means
“caused to sweat,” as in the doctor sweated him
and sweated labor. Sweated is also the preferred
form for the past tense or participle in the expression
sweat it out, meaning “pass through a
period of anxiety.”
Some people feel that sweat is not a delicate
word to use in its literal sense when speaking
of people, but they have no objection to its
being used figuratively of people or literally of
things. That is, ladies who insist that human
beings merely “perspire,” do not hesitate to say
they made him sweat for it and the walls are
sweating. See also perspire.
sweat of one’s brow. Those who speak of earning
(or, better still, of others earning) their
bread by the sweat of their brow usually speak
the phrase with a solemnity that implies they
are under the impression that they are quoting
Holy Writ. They are misquoting it. Genesis 3 : 19
reads: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread.
sweep. The past tense is swept. The participle is
also swept.
sweeping statement. As a term, with connotations
of mild disapproval, for an unjustified generalization,
a sweeping statement is hackneyed. A
sweeping statement differs from a glittering
generality in that it is more dogmatic and
aggressive and argumentative, less rhetorical.
sweepstakes has a singular form sweepstake but
it is seldom used in the United States. Instead,
the plural sweepstakes is used as both a singular
and a plural, as in he won a sweepstakes and
he won three sweepstakes. But the singular form
is still preferred as the first element in a compound,
as in a sweepstake ticket.
sweets. See candy.
swell. The past tense is swelled. The participle is
swelled or swollen. In the United States swelled
is preferred to swollen when used in a verb
form, as in the wood had swelled, but the wood
had swollen is also acceptable. In Great Britain
swollen is used in this way more often than it
is in the United States. In both countries swollen
493 switch
is the preferred form after a form of the verb
be or immediately before a noun, as in rhe wood
was swollen and a swollen river.
swept. See sweep.
swerve. See deviate.
swift; swiftly. The form swift may be used as an
adjective, as in his terrible swift sword. Either
form may be used as an adverb, as in Nor half
so swift the trembling doves can fly . . . Not
half so swiftly the fierce eagle moves.
swim. The past tense is swum. The participle is
swum. A past tense swum, as in he swum the
river, and a participle swam, as in he had swam
it before were both literary English a few generations
ago, but they are no longer standard.
As a rule, the causative form of an irregular
verb, meaning “make to do,” is regular, as is
the case with shone and shined, sped and
speeded. But this is not true here. We say he
swam his horse across the river, and not he
swimmed it.
swine. The plural is swine. This is a purely literary
word. We may speak of a fewel in a swine’s
snout or of casting pearls before swine, but the
animals in the barnyard are hogs. Swine is used
in England, both as a singular and a plural, as
a term of strong contempt and moral disappre
bation. It is much stronger than the American
hog. See also pig; hog.
swing. The past tense is swung. The participle is
also swung. A past tense swang, as in they
swang their partners, was once literary English
but is now archaic or dialectal.
Swiss. The singular and the plural are both Swiss.
This word once had a distinct plural, as seen
in those Swisses fight on any side for pay.
This became obsolete about 1800 and Swiss is
now the standard form for both singular and
plural, as in one Swiss and three Swiss. But
many people feel that Swiss is plural only.
They hesitate to say a Swiss and prefer (I
Switzer. Both forms are acceptable. In England
Switzer is considered archaic, but it is in general
use and thoroughly established in the
United States.
switch is a word which serves more purposes in
America than in England. In railroad terminology,
the movable rails which shift cars and
trains from one track to another, known in
America as switches, are known in England as
points. As a verb, switch, in American railroad
usage, means to shift or transfer a train or car,
especially in a yard or terminal, or to drop or
add cars or to make up a train. The equivalent
English verb is shunt. Compounds referring to
railroading are similarly differentiated. American
switchman is English pointsman. An American
switchtower is an English signal-box. An
American switchyard or marshalling-yard is ZUI
English shunting-yard.
As an instrument of chastisement, a slender,
flexible shoot or rod, used especially in whipping,
an American switch finds its nearest
eouivalent in the English cane. though they are
not exactly synonym&s since a switch is usually
cut fresh from a tree and is more limber and