v. Obs. or arch. Also 4–5 swyve, 5–6 swyfe, 6 swiff, swhyve; 5 (Sc.) pa. pple. swyffit, swywit, 6 (Sc.) pa. t. swiffit, swewyt. [app. representing, with change of conjugation, and a specialized meaning not found in the cognate words, the OE. str. vb. swífan, pa. t. swáf, pa. pple. -swifen to move in a course, sweep.
OE. swífan corresponds to OFris. swîva to be uncertain, ON. svífa to rove, ramble, drift:—*swīban, f. Teut. swīb-: swaib-: swib- (cf. OHG. sweib swinging, sweibôn, MHG. schweiben to sway, hover, OFris. swif (?) sudden movement, vibration, ON. svif turn, veering of a ship, OHG. swebên, MHG. sweben, G. schweben to hover; see also SWAFE, SWAYVE).]
1. trans. To have sexual connection with, copulate with (a female).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 664. Thus swyued was this Carpenteris wyf For al his kepyng and his Ialousye.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xiii. 2008 (Wemyss MS.). Thy dame wes swyffit [v.r. swywit] or þov wes borne.
1539. Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 159. I sell leid the to the place for the freir swewyt the.
1596. Sir J. Davies, Epigrams, ix. He sweares he hath foure onely swiude, A maide, a wife, a widow and a whoore.
1598. Florio, s.v. Fottere.
a. 1722. Pennecuik, Scots Poems (1756), 100. And why was all this mighty pother, But for to swive some jade or other?
1884. J. Payne, Tales fr. Arabic, I. 230. So he ate and drank and lay with her and swived her.
2. intr. To copulate.
c. 1440. in Rel. Ant. (1843), II. 281. If he may wele swyfe.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxiv. 67. The Feind me ryfe, Gif I do ocht bot drynk and swyfe.
1646. H. Mill, Night’s Search, II. 130. She scorn’d to swive Under a Crown, with any man alive.
1694. Wood, Life, 26 May (O.H.S.), III. 453. Mason, minister of Water Stratford in Bucks: he and his disciples … live in common…. Eat, drink, and sleep, dance, swive.
1898. Secreta Secret. (E.E.T.S.), 76, marg. Don’t bathe on a full stomach: nor swive.
Hence Swived ppl. a., Swiving vbl. sb.; also † Swive sb. an act of swiving; Swiver, one who swives; one given to sexual indulgence.
a. 1300. Pol. Songs (Camden), 69. Richard of Alemaigne, whil that he wes kyng, He spende al is tresour opon swyvyng.
c. 1440. in Rel. Ant. (1843), II. 282. Mete and drynke thay hafe ynoghe, bot swyvyng thame wanntis. Ibid. And now are sary swywers brokyne owte of bande.
c. 1500. Blowbol’s Test., 231, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 102. Alle feeble swyvers.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), iv. 36. Wedow men þat wantis To steill a pair of swyvis.
1611. Cotgr., Chevaucherie, a riding; a swiuing.
a. 1680. Butler, Characters, etc. (1908), App. 457. In the Scotch translation Genesis is rendered the Buke of Swiving.
1707. Markland, in Hearne, Collect., 30 Sept. (O.H.S.), II. 56. Drunkards and Swivers Are never long livers.
a. 1722. Pennecuik, Scots Poems (1756), 101. The goddess, who lou’d swiving.
1869. Furnivall, in Wright’s Chaste Wife, Pref. p. vii., note. The swived wife and broken arm that he [sc. Chaucer] gives his befooled Oxford tradesman in the Milleres Tale.
