Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To wrap, as in layers of cloth.
  • transitive verb To wrap or bind in bandages.
  • transitive verb To enfold or envelop.
  • noun A wrapping, binding, or bandage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A bandage; a band of linen or other fabric; a swaddling-band; a winding, as of a bandage.
  • noun An old spelling of swath.
  • To bind with a bandage or bandages; swaddle; bind; wrap.
  • To make a bundle of; tie up in bundles or sheaves, as corn.
  • To bind about; inclose; confine.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers.
  • noun A bandage; a band; a swath.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A bandage; a band;
  • noun chiefly UK, usually in plural A group of people.
  • noun Alternative spelling of swath.
  • verb To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb wrap in swaddling clothes
  • noun an enveloping bandage

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English swathen, from Old English swathian.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English swæþ

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Examples

  • And foreign aid, ironically, is one of the elements of spending that actually has a constituency among a certain swathe of conservative elites (Michael Gerson, etc.).

    Matthew Yglesias » Corrected Graph on Conservative Cuts 2010

  • Once again, there's that 80-mile swathe, which is so critical.

    CNN Transcript Oct 7, 2001 2001

  • Can you give us any sense of the geography, from Midwest City, we're told, a suburban area, to Moore City, what kind of swathe was cut by this tornado?

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2003 2003

  • Can you just give us an idea of the geography here, what kind of swathe we're talking about from Midwest City to Moore?

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2003 2003

  • No, much better to leave them as dependent on State largesse, as that maintains a huge swathe of State-client, and therefore Labour voters throughout the country. on April 9, 2010 at 9: 15 pm Serpico

    Gadget Election Thought For Today « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010

  • Or because we are so horrendously thin on the ground that our patch is a great swathe of real estate, far too big to effectively cover.

    What Really Matters At The Top « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • Martin, after a few instructions, sorted the great heaps of soiled clothes, while Joe started the masher and made up fresh supplies of soft-soap, compounded of biting chemicals that compelled him to swathe his mouth and nostrils and eyes in bath - towels till he resembled a mummy.

    Chapter 16 2010

  • And it's not just the biotech companies that are in the race; a swathe of companies including oil majors are also investing in R&D.

    Looking Beyond the Fossil Age William Lyons 2011

  • The gray clouds became a long, low swathe of ruby red, or garnet red -- such as one sees in a glass of heavy burgundy when held to the light.

    CHAPTER XXVIII 2010

  • "One of the myths we hold in this country is that there's a single fault, but in reality there's a swathe about 200 kilometers wide where there are lots of faults that are potentially active," he said.

    Latest Quake Tests Geological Views David Fickling 2011

Comments

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  • Wouldn't you like to get away?

    Give yourself up to the allure of

    Catcher In The Rye

    The future's swathed in Stars and Stripes.

    (Le pastie de la Bourgeoisie, by Belle and Sebastian)

    July 28, 2008

  • See also (but don't confuse it with) swath.

    October 14, 2008

  • Citation on semolina.

    October 14, 2008

  • swathe - swaddle (frequentative)

    September 21, 2011