Pronunciation Noun
swan (plural swans)
- Any of various species of large, long-necked waterfowl, of genus Cygnus (bird family: Anatidae), most of which have white plumage.
- (figuratively) One whose grace etc. suggests a swan.
- (heraldiccharge) This bird used as a heraldic charge, sometimes with a crown around its neck (e. g. the arms of Buckinghamshire).
- French: cygne, cygne mâle, cygne femelle, cygneau, cygnet, jeune cygne
- German: Schwan, Schwänin
- Italian: cigno
- Portuguese: cisne
- Russian: ле́бедь
- Spanish: cisne
swan (swans, present participle swanning; past and past participle swanned)
- (British, intransitive) To travel or move about in an aimless, idle, or pretentiously casual way.
- 2010, Lee Rourke, The Canal, Melville House Publishing (2010), ISBN 9781935554905, unnumbered page ↗:
- He swans around that stinking office in his expensive clothes that are a little too tight for comfort, he swans around that stinking office without a care in the world.
- 2013, Tilly Bagshawe, One Summer’s Afternoon, HarperCollins (2013), ISBN 9780007472550, unnumbered page ↗:
- One of the few strokes of good luck Emma had had in recent days was the news that Tatiana Flint-Hamilton, her only real rival for top billing as 'most photographable girl' at today's event had decided to swan off to Sardinia instead, leaving the limelight entirely to Emma.
- 2010, Lee Rourke, The Canal, Melville House Publishing (2010), ISBN 9781935554905, unnumbered page ↗:
swan (swans, present participle swanning; past and past participle swanned)
- (US, dialectal or colloquial) To declare (chiefly in first-person present constructions).
- 1907 December, J. D. Archer, Foiling an eavesdropper, in Telephony, volume 14, page 345:
- "Well, I swan, man, I had a better opinion of you than that."
- 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, page 214:
- ‘She slammed the door so hard I figured a window'd break […] .’ ‘I swan,’ I said.
- 1907 December, J. D. Archer, Foiling an eavesdropper, in Telephony, volume 14, page 345:
Swan
Noun
swan (plural swans)
- (soccer) someone connected with Swansea City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach, etc.
- 2013, Delme Parfitt in Wales Online, Cardiff City 1 - 0 Swansea City: Steven Caulker heads Bluebirds to South Wales derby win (3 November 2013)
- The Swans will doubtless recover, but they will head home this evening knowing that they didn't do themselves justice in a game that means so much to supporters.
- 2013, Delme Parfitt in Wales Online, Cardiff City 1 - 0 Swansea City: Steven Caulker heads Bluebirds to South Wales derby win (3 November 2013)
- (Australian rules football) someone connected with the Sydney Swans, as a fan, player, coach, etc.
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