Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

swag

/ˈswæɡ/ verb, noun

Forms swags swagging swagged

  1. verb (ambitransitive) To (cause to) sway.
  2. verb (intransitive) To droop; to sag.
  3. verb (transitive) To decorate (something) with loops of draped fabric.
  4. verb (transitive) To install (a ceiling fan or light fixture) by means of a long cord running from the ceiling to an outlet, and suspended by hooks or similar.
  5. noun (window coverings) A loop of draped fabric.
  6. noun Something that droops like a swag.
  7. noun A place where water collects; a low, wet place where the land has settled.
  8. noun A pass, gap or sag in a mountain ridge.
  9. noun (slang) Style; fashionable appearance or manner.
  10. noun (uncountable, thieves' cant) Stolen goods; the booty of a burglar or thief; boodle.
  11. noun (uncountable, informal) Branded handout, freebies, or giveaways, often distributed at conventions; merchandise.
  12. noun (countable, Australia, dated) The possessions of a bushman or itinerant worker, tied up in a blanket and carried over the shoulder, sometimes attached to a stick.
  13. noun (countable, Australia, by extension) A small single-person tent, usually foldable into an integral backpack.
  14. noun (countable, Australia, New Zealand) A large quantity (of something).
  15. noun (obsolete, thieves' cant) A shop and its goods; any quantity of goods.
  16. verb (Australia, ambitransitive) To travel on foot carrying a swag (possessions tied in a blanket).
  17. verb To transport stolen goods.
  18. verb To transport in the course of arrest.

Synonyms

sway lurch boodle booty fang gizzit haul hot property loot pelf pickings pillage plunder prigging sack spoil spoils merch schwag bindle prize dirty money sag droop flag stagger reel keel careen

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English swagen, a late collateral form of *swawen possibly originating from Lancashire and Yorkshire (possibly continued in Scots swaw (“wave”); parallel to e.g. drag for draw), from Old Norse *svaga (“to swerve, sway”), of unclear origin. Compare dialectal Norwegian svaga (“to sway, swing, stagger”).

Clipping of swagger. A common folk etymology is that the word derives from an acronym for "she wants a gentleman", "secretly we are gay" or other phrases.

From 18th c. British thieves' slang, from the noun use of Etymology 1 above, "a swaying, an uneven motion." A folk etymology, particularly for the handouts definition, is “stuff we all get”.

Acronym of various terms.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To hang or move, as something loose and heavy; to sway; to swing.
  2. verb To sink down by its weight; to sag. Sir H. Wotton.
  3. noun A swaying, irregular motion.
  4. noun A burglar's or thief's booty; boodle. [Cant or Slang] Charles Reade.

Etymology [Cf. Icel. sveggja, sveigja to bend, to sway, Norw. svaga to sway. See Sway.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “swag”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details