Obs. exc. arch. Forms: 5 soorde, sorde, 5–6 sourd(e, 9 sord. [f. SORD v.] A flight or flock of mallards.
Orig. perhaps the act of taking to wing, but only recorded in the lists of ‘proper terms’; in some late copies of these erroneously given as sore.
14[?]. Harl. MS. 541 fol. 225, in Phil. Soc. Trans. (1909), 55. A Soorde of malardes, A Doppyng of herles.
c. 1470. Hors, Shepe & G. (Roxb.), A Spryng of teeles, A Sourd of malardes.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hawking, d ij. When ther be in a stobull tyme Sordes of mallardes in the felde.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., I. ii. 28. A sord or sute of mallards.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, I. ix. 78/1. The following Terms are in Use among Wildfowl-shooters:—A flock of wigeon is termed ‘a company’…; of mallards, ‘a sord.’
Sord, obs. or dial. form of SWARD sb.
