[f. SWAY v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb SWAY; movement to and fro; vacillation; influencing, controlling, etc.
a. 1665. J. Goodwin, Being filled with the Spirit (1867), 340. For the swaying and ordering of our judgments in the question in hand.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. II. ii. Bread not to be had except by Ticket from the Mayor,… after long swaying, with firm grip, on the chain of the Queue.
1849. Kingsley, Misc. (1860), II. 275. The swaying of the fir boughs in the gale.
1850. Ht. Martineau, Hist. Peace, IV. xiv. II. 200. His life had been a swaying between contemplation and action.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., iv. 132. The low murmur and swaying to and fro of the dense crowd.
2. Swaying of or in the back: the condition of being swayed in the back (SWAY v. 5 b) or SWAY-BACKED. Also back-swaying.
1598. Florio, Feruto, a disease in a horse called the swaying of the neck [sic].
1704. Dict. Rust. (1726), s.v., Sway’d, Swaying in the Back, a Distemper in Horses that comes many ways.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, II. lxviii. (1738), 225. By a Swaying of the Back is properly to be understood a stretching and relaxation of the Muscles and Ligaments.
1852. Burn, Naval & Milit. Dict. (1863), s.v., Back swaying, effort des reins.
