swene

English

Alternative forms

• sweyn

Etymology

Unknown. Appears, at about the same time, in both the Chester Plays and the Auchinleck manuscript.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsweɪn/

Noun

swene (plural swenes)

1. (regional, obsolete) A noise.

   Make nah swene, ye feckin' getǃ

Usage notes

"Swene" is a fossil word and, at present, can probably only be used and understood by a very few deeply rural speakers in the northern parts of England. It is generally found in the archaic phrase make nah swene.

References

• James Orchard Halliwell (1847) “SWENE”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. [...] In Two Volumes, volumes II (J–Z), London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 837, column 1.
• The Legend of Pope Gregory

Anagrams

• e-news, enews, ensew, newes, sewen, weens