[Obscure variant of SWARTY: cf. SWARTH a., SWARF a., SWARFISH, SWARFY.] Of a dark hue; black or blackish; dusky.
a. gen. = SWART a. 1 a.
1577. [implied in SWARTHINESS].
1596. Gosson, Quippes Upstart Gentlewom., 99. in Hazl., E. P. P., IV. 254. The swarthie-blacke, the grassie-greene, The pudding-red, the dapple graie.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., I. Wks. 1856, I. 16. Swarthy darknesse popt out Phoebus eye.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 596. Search his Mouth; and if a swarthy Tongue Is underneath his humid Palate hung [etc.].
1786. trans. Beckford’s Vathek (1868), 35. From a swarthy crimson to a bright rose colour.
1827. Heber, Europe, 270. The swarthy vintage.
1842. Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur, 269. Like some full-breasted swan That … takes the flood With swarthy webs.
b. of or in reference to the complexion: = SWART a. 1 b.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. vi. 26. Siluia … Shewes Iulia but a swarthy Ethiope.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, V. i. Let our Roman eagles flie On swarthy Ægypt.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 14. The people are of a swarthy darke colour.
1638–56. Cowley, Davideis, III. 178. Your Name … That to rich Ophirs rising Morn is knowne, And stretcht out far to the burnt swarthy Zone.
1744. Mitchell, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 122. If we proceed from the swarthiest white Person to the palest Egyptian, from thence to the fairest Mustee, Molatto, Moor, &c. to the darkest Indian.
1833. Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., xxxii. A queen, with swarthy cheeks and bold black eyes.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xxv. 493. Six swarthy Arabs pulled our oars as we headed north.
c. fig. ‘Black,’ ‘dark,’ malignant, dismal: cf. SWART a. 3.
1651. J. S., Prince of Priggs Revels, III. 9. You (Parson) … Black best becomes your swarthy function Whose Doctrine damns more souls Then Lucifer by all his stratagems.
1755. Amory, Buncle (1825), I. 2. My lot has been a swarthy one in this first state.
d. Comb.
1587. Turberv., Trag. Tales (1837), 31. A hydeous knight, to seeming swarthie hewde.
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2433/4. A swarthy Complexioned Boy.
1891. Conan Doyle, White Company, xxiv. A raw-boned, swarthy-checked man.
Hence † Swarthy v. trans., to make swarthy.
1663. Cowley, Cutter Colman St., IV. vi. Now will I and my Man John swarthy our Faces over as if that Country’s Heat had made ’em so.
