Library / English Dictionary

SWAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stately heavy-bodied aquatic bird with very long neck and usually white plumage as adult

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("swan" is a kind of...):

aquatic bird (wading and swimming and diving birds of either fresh or salt water)

Meronyms (parts of "swan"):

swan's down (down of the swan)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "swan"):

black swan; Cygnus atratus (large Australian swan having black plumage and a red bill)

coscoroba (large white South American bird intermediate in some respects between ducks and swans)

cob (adult male swan)

pen (female swan)

cygnet (a young swan)

Cygnus olor; mute swan (soundless Eurasian swan; commonly domesticated)

Cygnus cygnus; whooper; whooper swan (common Old World swan noted for its whooping call)

Cygnus columbianus; tundra swan (swan that nests in tundra regions of the New and Old Worlds)

Cygnus buccinator; trumpeter; trumpeter swan (large pure white wild swan of western North America having a sonorous cry)

Holonyms ("swan" is a member of...):

Anatidae; family Anatidae (swimming birds having heavy short-legged bodies and bills with a horny tip: swans; geese; ducks)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true

Example:

Before God I swear I am innocent

Synonyms:

affirm; assert; aver; avow; swan; swear; verify

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "swan" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "swan"):

hold (assert or affirm)

claim; take (lay claim to; as of an idea)

attest (authenticate, affirm to be true, genuine, or correct, as in an official capacity)

declare (state firmly)

protest (affirm or avow formally or solemnly)

assure; tell (inform positively and with certainty and confidence)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They swan that there was a traffic accident

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sweep majestically

Example:

Airplanes were swanning over the mountains

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "swan" is one way to...):

sail; sweep (move with sweeping, effortless, gliding motions)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

Example:

They rolled from town to town

Synonyms:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "swan" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

drift; err; stray (wander from a direct course or at random)

wander (go via an indirect route or at no set pace)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "swan"):

maunder (wander aimlessly)

gad; gallivant; jazz around (wander aimlessly in search of pleasure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

Here too were the beautiful brunettes of the Gironde, with eyes which out-flashed their jewels, while beside them rode their blonde sisters of England, clear cut and aquiline, swathed in swans'-down and in ermine, for the air was biting though the sun was bright.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)