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Sway   Listen
verb
Sway  v. t.  (past & past part. swayed; pres. part. swaying)  
1.
To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield; as, to sway the scepter. "As sparkles from the anvil rise, When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed."
2.
To influence or direct by power and authority; by persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. "The will of man is by his reason swayed." "She could not sway her house." "This was the race To sway the world, and land and sea subdue."
3.
To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp; as, reeds swayed by wind; judgment swayed by passion. "As bowls run true by being made On purpose false, and to be swayed." "Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest."
4.
(Naut.) To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.
Synonyms: To bias; rule; govern; direct; influence; swing; move; wave; wield.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Sway" Quotes from Famous Books



... Bundesrath, as already shown, practically controls the German Empire, and the King of Prussia, with his seventeen votes in the Bundesrath holds sway in that body, it is easy to see how the Kaiser is the dominating figure in ...
— Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights • Kelly Miller

... the ardent study of medical and chemical science. Chemistry especially has always had irresistible attractions for me from the enormous, the illimitable power which the knowledge of it confers. Chemists—I assert it emphatically—might sway, if they pleased, the destinies of humanity. Let me explain this before ...
— The Woman in White • Wilkie Collins

... the words escaping me involuntarily. And then I breathed again, for the tall savage, evidently the leader, said something to his men, who stood fast, while he walked boldly across the stream beneath the overhanging bushes, and one of these began to sway as the chief tried to draw ...
— Bunyip Land - A Story of Adventure in New Guinea • George Manville Fenn

... exaggerated, and her virtue had received no stain from the folly of Candaules; but ideas imbibed with a mother's milk obtain irresistible sway, and the modesty of the body is carried by Oriental nations to an extent almost incomprehensible to Occidental races. When a man desired to speak to Nyssia in the palace of Megabazus at Bactria, he was obliged to do so keeping his eyes fixed upon the ground, and two eunuchs stood beside ...
— King Candaules • Theophile Gautier

... official rank. There was what we may call a college of them, consisting of seventy members. 2 僕射, 周青臣. 3 淳于越. 4 田常. — 常 should probably be 恆, as it is given in the T'ung Chien. See Analects XIV. xxii. T'ien Hang was the same as Ch'an Ch'ang of that chapter. 5 丞相李斯 imperial sway, so that it will last for 10,000 generations. This is indeed beyond what a stupid scholar can understand. And, moreover, Yueh only talks of things belonging to the Three Dynasties, which are not fit to be models to you. At other times, when the princes were all ...
— THE CHINESE CLASSICS (PROLEGOMENA) Unicode Version • James Legge

... him a sweeping curtsy so exquisitely graceful that the action resembled nothing so much as the sway of a lily in a ...
— The Secret Power • Marie Corelli

... into a storm of passion, and the storm became furious within; for it seemed at times as if it would rend and tear me to pieces, and I was about to be conquered by it. I felt like saying, 'Must I yield? Is yielding the only way out of this? Must I give way and let it have full sway over me?' I said, 'Must I let it die out by consuming its own self?' And as I was about to cry out in despair, 'There is no other way; I will feed the fire till there is nothing left for it to burn;' and just as I was on the ...
— A California Girl • Edward Eldridge

... further the ruffled tempers of these men might have been tried it is impossible to say, but at that moment a diversion was created by the advent of the redoubtable doctor. And it was easy to see at a glance how it was this man was able to sway the Barnriff crowd. He was an aggressive specimen of unyielding force, lean, but powerful of frame, with the light of overwhelming determination in a pair of ...
— The One-Way Trail - A story of the cattle country • Ridgwell Cullum

... them with those of the Quichuas, I cannot but believe that Manco's ancestors emigrated from Xibalba or Mayapan, carrying with them the notions of the mother country, which they inculcated to their sons and grandsons, and introduced them among the tribes that submitted to their sway. ...
— The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries • Stephen Salisbury, Jr.

... sends them to all battles, where they choose those who are to be slain, and rule over the victory. Gud and Rosta, and the youngest norn, Skuld, always ride to sway the battle and choose the slain. Jord, the mother of Thor, and Rind, Vale's mother, are numbered ...
— The Younger Edda - Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda • Snorre

... we propose. Your people have confidence in you. They will believe you. The declaration, made with substantial unanimity by this Conference, will tranquillize public sentiment, and give a chance for reason to resume its sway, and patriotic counsels ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... with these struggles was going on another, unobserved at the time. Three languages held sway in England—Latin in the Church, French in polite society, and English among the people. Chaucer's genius selected the language of the people for its expression, as also of course, did Wickliffe in his translation of the Bible. French and ...
— The Evolution of an Empire • Mary Parmele

... and lived there with his mistress until recalled to Copenhagen, when he took her with him. The most singular feature in this whole intrigue is that the royal voluptuary was from the outset under the absolute sway, not of the fair Dyveke, but of her mother, Sigbrit, a low, cunning, intriguing woman of Dutch origin, who followed the couple to the royal palace at Opslo, and afterwards accompanied them to Stockholm, the complete ruler of her daughter's royal slave. On the accession ...
— The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa • Paul Barron Watson

... lightest wish," said he, "Complying love leads best to victory. "Nor let a furious 'No' thy bosom pain; "Beauty but slowly can endure a chain. "Slow Time the rage of lions will o'er-sway, "And bid them fawn on man. Rough rocks and rude "In gentle streams Time smoothly wears away; "And on the vine-clad hills by sunshine wooed, "The purpling grapes feel Time's secure control; "In Time, the skies themselves new stars unroll. "Fear not great ...
— The Elegies of Tibullus • Tibullus

... have sacrificed for you," said Ravenswood, still addressing Lucy, "ere you sanction what has been done in your name. The honour of an ancient family, the urgent advice of my best friends, have been in vain used to sway my resolution; neither the arguments of reason nor the portents of superstition have shaken my fidelity. The very dead have arisen to warn me, and their warning has been despised. Are you prepared to pierce my ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott

... lord, and the proudest trees of the forest bowed their heads that they might not miss one exquisite sigh that his fingers drew from the magical strings. Nor man nor beast lived in his day that he could not sway by the power of his melody. He played a lullaby, and all things slept. He played a love-lilt, and the flowers sprang up in full bloom from the cold earth, and the dreaming red rosebud opened wide her ...
— A Book of Myths • Jean Lang

... the cold and stormy North, With a rush and a roar I hurry forth, I toss from the trees the dead leaves down, The withered leaves all sere and brown, And sway the branches to and fro As on my way I whirling go. At crack and crevice I slip in, And make a lively sounding din. Swift I come and swift away, With you I can no longer stay, For I am wanted elsewhere now, And so ...
— Christmas Entertainments • Alice Maude Kellogg

... were being wrought at the West, in the East politics had resumed full sway, and all the methods of anti-war times had been renewed. President Johnson had differed with his party as to the best method of reconstructing the State governments of the South, which had been destroyed and impoverished by the war, and the press began to agitate the question ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... those whose impure desires led them to its vicinity, and lured them into the caverns, from which they were supposed never to return. The first act opens in this court, and reveals Tannhaeuser, the knight and minstrel, under the sway of Venus. In spite of her fascinations he succeeds in tearing himself away, and we next find him at the castle of Wartburg, the home of Hermann the Landgrave, whose daughter Elizabeth is in love with ...
— The Standard Operas (12th edition) • George P. Upton

... to strive with Fate, And seeks by turns to prop each sinking state. Colossal Power with overwhelming force [2] Bears down each fort of Freedom in its course; Prostrate she lies beneath the Despot's sway, While the ...
— Eighteen Hundred and Eleven • Anna Laetitia Barbauld

... gathering waves could disturb them, so long as the storm continued to come out of the south-west, for they were now cruising along the northern shore of the great lake, where the Dominion of Canada held sway, and not ...
— The, Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island - or Marooned Among the Game-fish Poachers • Herbert Carter

... Now that the man owned her sway, she did not mean to accede to his wishes too readily. Some obscure reason made her shrink from definitely binding herself to him, but his intimation had forced on something of the ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss

... a slender thing of wood, That up and down its awkward arm doth sway, And coolly shout, and spout, and spout away, In one ...
— The Jest Book - The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings • Mark Lemon

... enacting such laws as they chose, and free from the restraining hand of the King. There had been no royal Governor to veto their bills, or threaten the Burgesses, or intimidate the voters, or overawe the Council, or sway the courts of justice. And the experience was priceless. It schooled them in governmental affairs and taught them self-reliance, patience and stubbornness to oppose oppression. Having tasted the sweets of freedom, they were ill prepared ever again to tolerate injustice ...
— Virginia under the Stuarts 1607-1688 • Thomas J. Wertenbaker

... creation of Athor the Golden. For days he labored feverishly, forgetting to eat, fretting because the sun set and the darkness held sway for so long. Having overstepped the law, he placed no limit to the ...
— The Yoke - A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children - of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt • Elizabeth Miller

... time on for nearly a year Napoleon's career was a succession of victories. He invaded the Papal States, and acquired millions of francs and hundreds of pictures. He chastised all who opposed his sway, and, after pursuing the Austrians as far as Leoben, within sight of Vienna, he humbled the haughty ...
— Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica • John Kendrick Bangs

... formalities. This island and its inhabitants resembled the rest, having the beautiful appearance of the south of Spain in the month of April. They here killed an alligator; and, on going towards a town, the inhabitants fled, carrying sway all their property; but no harm being done, the natives soon came to the ships to barter like the others for toys; and being asked for water, they became so familiar as to bring it on board in gourds. The admiral would not spend time at Isabella, nor ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr

... from city to city, from the attacks of robbers. The Eschernheim Tower is interesting from another circumstance, which, whether true or not, is universally believed. When Frankfort was under the sway of a prince, a Swiss hunter, for some civil offence, was condemned to die. He begged his life from the prince, who granted it only on condition that he should fire the figure 9 with his rifle through the vane of this tower. He agreed, and did ...
— Views a-foot • J. Bayard Taylor

... the flag! Up, up, betimes, and proudly speak of it; A lordly thing to see on tower and crag, O'er which,—as eagles flit, With eyes a-fire, and wings of phantasy,— Our memories hang superb! The foes we frown upon shall feel the curb Of our full sway; and they shall shamed be Who wrong, with sword or pen, The Code that keeps us free. For there's no sight, in summer or in spring, Like our great standard-pole, When round about it ring The cheers of Britons, bounden, heart and soul, To deeds of duty, dear ...
— The Song of the Flag - A National Ode • Eric Mackay

... close there is a return to the introductory melody which is treated contrapuntally by the bassoons and other wind-instruments. The saltarello resumes its sway and is worked up to a fiery ending; especially brilliant are the closing chords scored for full brass with ...
— Music: An Art and a Language • Walter Raymond Spalding

... youngest and most beautiful of the family, was destined for France. There were three older than Marie Antoinette; but she, being much lovelier than her sisters, was selected on account of her charms. Her husband was never considered by the contrivers of the scheme: he was known to have no sway whatever, not even in the choice of his own wife! But the character of Louis XV. was recollected, and calculations drawn from it, upon the probable power which youth and beauty might obtain over such a King ...
— The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 3 • Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe

... coming the promise in 2 Sam. vii. should find its final and complete fulfilment. Whilst David, in these Psalms, represents the Messiah as his antitype, as the mighty conqueror, who will not rest until He shall have subjected the whole earth to His sway, Solomon, in Ps. lxxii., represents Him as the true Prince of Peace, and His dominion, as a just and peaceful rule. The circumstances of the time of Solomon form, in a similar way, the foundation for the description of the Messiah in ...
— Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, v. 1 • Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

... effect of his arrival on Constance was miraculous. His presence almost cured her for a moment, just as though her malady had been toothache and he a dentist. Then, when he had finished his examination, the pain resumed its sway over her. ...
— The Old Wives' Tale • Arnold Bennett

... free inquiry and the profession of the reformed faith were crimes, and must be visited with the dungeon and the stake. Could they consent to localize religious liberty? to have it proclaimed that the Reformation had made its last convert? had subjugated its last acre? and that wherever Rome bore sway at this hour, there her dominion was to be perpetuated? Could the Reformers have pleaded that they were innocent of the blood of those hundreds and thousands who, in pursuance of this arrangement, would have to yield up their lives in popish lands? ...
— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... faintly remember the Man, Who died when I was but a Child; But far as my young mind could scan, His manners were gentle and mild: He won infant ears with his lore, Nor let young ideas run wild, Tho' his hand the severe rod of pow'r Never sway'd o'er a ...
— An Essay on War, in Blank Verse; Honington Green, a Ballad; The - Culprit, an Elegy; and Other Poems, on Various Subjects • Nathaniel Bloomfield

... fellows. Admire the tone, remark my touch! And what capacious bellows! 'Tis not as loud as a trombone, But harmony's not rumpus; The chords are charming, and you'll own It has a pretty compass. I swing like this, I sway like that! Fate a fine theme supplies me! The "treatment" you think feeble, flat? Well, well—you do ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, July 19, 1890 • Various

... smith sculled on. It seemed to him sometimes as if each sway of his body, each tug of his tired arms must be the last possible. Yet he succeeded in going on. He dared not look round lest the boat he had seen should prove after all not to be the one he sought. Such a disappointment would, he knew, be more than ...
— Priscilla's Spies 1912 • George A. Birmingham

... multitude toward some fancied center the King had been borne a good many hundred yards from his original point. Presently he found himself in a large open space, with its low-railed inclosure guarded by police. Here the crowd was denser than ever and its sway harder to withstand. A woman's form was driven sharply against him. To avoid elbowing her off he offered the shelter of his arm; and she, finding herself up against something not immediately repellent, stayed to breathe. ...
— King John of Jingalo - The Story of a Monarch in Difficulties • Laurence Housman

... portion just to the right of the present entrance; Louis XII., the edifice through which one enters the inner court and which extends far to the left, including also the chapel immediately to the rear; while Francois I., who here as elsewhere let his unbounded Italian proclivities have full sway, built the extended wing to the left of the inner court and fronting on the present Place du ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 4 (of 10) • Various

... heeding her knife) I sprang at her and she, letting fall the knife, leapt towards me; and then I had her, felt her all soft and palpitant in my furious grip, heard a quivering sigh, saw her head sway back across my arm and she drooping in my embrace, helpless and a-swoon. And holding her thus 'prisoned and crushed against me, I could not but be conscious of all the tender, languorous beauty of her ere I hasted to lay her upon the sand. My arms were yet about her (and I upon my knees) when ...
— Martin Conisby's Vengeance • Jeffery Farnol

... noticed it.[206] Gaius observes[207] that for slaves to be in complete subjection to masters who have power of life and death is an institution common to all nations, "But at this time," he continues, "it is permitted neither to Roman citizens nor any other men who are under the sway of the Roman people to vent their wrath against slaves beyond measure and without reason. In fact, by a decree of the sainted Antoninus (138-161 A.D.) a master who without cause kills his slave is ordered to be held no less than he who kills another's slave.[208] ...
— A Short History of Women's Rights • Eugene A. Hecker

... elsewhere, whose supporters, though retaining the Alexandrian peculiarities, could scarcely be included in the Alexandrian school. The loss of active life, consequent on this gradual dissolution, was much increased when Alexandria fell under Roman sway. Then the influence of the school was extended over the whole known world, but men of letters began to concentrate at Rome rather than at Alexandria. In that city, however, there were new forces in operation which produced a second grand outburst ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... spleen seemed to sway the mind of this journal to one side or the other. It recognised itself as a newspaper, not as a political tout for this party or that, and so kept its head cool and its ...
— Some Everyday Folk and Dawn • Miles Franklin

... came at intervals to sway the tepee and snap the loose flaps. Sometimes a lamb bleated in a sleepy tremolo; occasionally, instead of puffing, Bowers snorted; but mostly it was as still as an uninhabited world up there on the tip-top of ...
— The Fighting Shepherdess • Caroline Lockhart

... could tell by the sway of the ship that she was afloat, and the men began to bustle about the deck overhead, while Thorgils shouted some orders now and then. Soon the sides of the ship grated along the wharf as she was hauled ...
— A Prince of Cornwall - A Story of Glastonbury and the West in the Days of Ina of Wessex • Charles W. Whistler

... felt the friendly earth sway under her, a dry salty taste was in her mouth, a very hurricane of ...
— The Story Of Julia Page - Works of Kathleen Norris, Volume V. • Kathleen Norris

... The tents sway and flap vigorously as gusts of wind tear through the camp, carrying clouds of sand across the island. Through the darkness comes the sound of the lashing of the date palms and the tamarisks as they swing to the gale. Within a straining, war-worn tent, lit by a flickering ...
— The Tale of a Trooper • Clutha N. Mackenzie

... rock and sway like an angry bear's; but still he held his ground. Gregor wanted to die, to ...
— The Drums Of Jeopardy • Harold MacGrath

... half-form'd pugilist, Censor impure, who dar'st, with slanderous aim, And envy's dart, assault a H——r's name. Senior, self-called, can I forget the day, When titt'ring under-graduates mock'd thy sway, And drove thee foaming from the Hall away? Gods, with what raps the conscious tables rung, From every form how shrill the cuckoo sung![36] Oh! sounds unblest—Oh! notes of deadliest fear— Harsh to the tutor's or the lover's ear, The hint, perchance, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine—Vol. 54, No. 333, July 1843 • Various

... Emporium of Canada; it was ever a first class city—in Canada. Charlevoix says, even in those days this (Hochelaga) was a place of considerable importance, as the capital of a great extent of country. Eight or ten villages were subject to its sway. Jacques Cartier returned to Quebec, loaded his vessels with supposed gold ore, and Cape Diamonds, which he supposed were brilliants of the first water, and then went home to France, where he told a truly magnificent tale concerning a truly magnificent country. Expeditions ...
— The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation - Volume 1 • Charles Roger

... woman's stories of her people were being proved true, and as I passed onward mile after mile I was entranced with the richness of the land, the abundance of game that had once held sway among the hills, shown by the antlers of the elk parched white by the suns, which lay on every side and the rams' horns often seen by the stream. A few bones of the little gazelle were among the remains, and a heavy buffalo trail cut the mountains where once the buffalo ...
— The Sheep Eaters • William Alonzo Allen

... some of our crown lands for Canterbury— My comrade, boon companion, my co-reveller, The master of his master, the King's king.— God's eyes! I had meant to make him all but king. Chancellor-Archbishop, he might well have sway'd All England under Henry, the young King, When I was hence. What did the traitor say? False to himself, but ten-fold false to me! The will of God—why, then it is my will— Is he coming? MESSENGER (entering). With a crowd of worshippers, And holds his cross before him thro' ...
— Becket and other plays • Alfred Lord Tennyson

... remember, however, that Galileo, though by no means a saint, was yet a really religious man, a devout Catholic and thorough adherent of the Church, so that he would have no dislike to place himself under her sway. Moreover, he had been born a Tuscan, his family had lived at Florence or Pisa, and it felt like going home. His theological attitude is worthy of notice, for he was not in the least a sceptic. He quite acquiesces in the authority of the Bible, especially in all matters concerning ...
— Pioneers of Science • Oliver Lodge

... the more severe Western taste of the period which had then declared its preference for sweet simplicity in silversmiths' work, such as we see in the basons, cups, and especially the flat-topped tankards of that day. The beauty of the straight line had asserted its power, and fashion felt its sway. Such was the feeling that produced the coffee-pot of 1692, the straight lines of which continued in vogue until the middle of the following century, when a reaction in favour of bulbous bodies and serpentine spouts ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers

... she answered. "They won't influence you—the terriers, as you call them. You are too strong. It is you who will sway them. It isn't as if you were a mere agitator. Take this opportunity of showing them that you can build, plan, organize; that you were meant to be a ruler. You can't succeed without them, as things are. You've got to win them over. Prove to them ...
— All Roads Lead to Calvary • Jerome K. Jerome

... by the knowledge which age and practice had conferred upon them: that while he thought proper to pass his time in those pleasures to which his age and royal fortune invited him, and in those studies which would in time enable him to sway the sceptre with absolute authority, his best system of government would be, to intrust his authority into the hands of some one person who was the creature of his will, and who could entertain no view but that of promoting his service: ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. - From Henry VII. to Mary • David Hume

... night, and the sky looked heavy, as though there were more to come. Babette shivered, in spite of her long, warm cloak. The roads were freezing hard, but they managed to proceed for a mile or two, and then suddenly there came a sway and a lurch, for one of the horses had slipped and fallen on the snowy road, and the other was trying to free himself from his struggling companion by ...
— The Strand Magazine: Volume VII, Issue 37. January, 1894. - An Illustrated Monthly • Edited by George Newnes

... soul, benignity, Sway of the silent Spirit, constant stress To sanctify the Nature,—these things make Good rite, and ...
— The Bhagavad-Gita • Sir Edwin Arnold

... Buddhism, enjoys a renown, second only to that of King Tissa, as the champion of the faith. On the recovery of his kingdom he addressed himself with energy to remove the effects produced in the northern portions of the island by forty years of neglect and inaction under the sway of Elala. During that monarch's protracted usurpation the minor sovereignties, which had been formed in various parts of the island prior to his seizure of the crown, were little impeded in their social progress ...
— Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and • James Emerson Tennent

... half exposed the other night, was my husband—divorced from me by the law, when, an escaped convict, he fled with another woman from the State three years ago." Her face flushed and whitened again; she put up her hand blindly to her straying hair, and for an instant seemed to sway in the saddle. ...
— Trent's Trust and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... by him, however, and none of these things ever did him any serious harm. His reign proved a long one, and as the years went by he came to exercise a more and more autocratic sway over the smaller fry. For in spite of his age he was still growing. A trout has an advantage over a land animal in this, that he is not obliged to use any of his food as fuel for keeping himself warm. He can't keep warm anyhow—not as long ...
— Forest Neighbors - Life Stories of Wild Animals • William Davenport Hulbert

... through a delightful avenue. It is one of the fashionable resorts of the town, and is absolute perfection on a hot day, though pregnant with damp and dew in the evening. I told you of dog carts at Bruxelles, but here seems to be the region of despotic sway of the poor beasts. I believe that I am not wrong in stating that nearly all the fish is carried by them from Scheveningen to the Hague; and the weight they draw is surprising. We passed many canine equipages; in one sat a fisherman ...
— Before and after Waterloo - Letters from Edward Stanley, sometime Bishop of Norwich (1802;1814;1814) • Edward Stanley

... different. Life was easy and gentle in the river bottoms of the United States. Women could make a brave fight unaided; even fatherless boys were not entirely cheated of their youth. Besides, in these desolate wastes the code of life is a personal code, primitive emotions have full sway, and men to not change their dreams from day to day. Constancy and steadfastness are the first impulses of their lives; neither Bill nor his mother had been able to forget or to forgive. Here was an undying ignominy and hatred; besides—for the North is a far-famed keeper of secrets—the ...
— The Snowshoe Trail • Edison Marshall

... from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart ...
— The Younger Set • Robert W. Chambers

... which you steel The souls of the besieged, thus falling down Before the images to wail, and shriek With lamentations loud? Wisdom abhors you. Nor in misfortune, nor in dear success, Be woman my associate. If her power Bears sway, her insolence exceeds all bounds; But if she fears, woe to that house and city. And now by holding counsel with weak fear, You magnify the foe, and turn our men To flight. Thus are we ruined by ourselves. This ever will arise from suffering women To intermix with men. But mark me well, Whoe'er ...
— Woman and the Republic • Helen Kendrick Johnson

... held sway with the large railroads of the country and was very effective for perhaps half a dozen years, until the interstate commerce laws were amended in such a way as to give the Government complete control over railroad freight and passenger rates. In 1906 the Pennsylvania ...
— The Railroad Builders - A Chronicle of the Welding of the States, Volume 38 in The - Chronicles of America Series • John Moody

... for all bad passions and for all anarchical doctrines. A civilized nation may bear the yoke of a factious and unrestrained multitude for a short interval; but these storms soon pass away, and reason resumes her sway. To attempt to restrain such a mob by a foreign force is to attempt to restrain the explosion of a mine when the powder has already been ignited: it is far better to await the explosion and afterward fill up the crater than to try ...
— The Art of War • Baron Henri de Jomini

... which the waves still carry towards the south, when the north wind has ceased to blow;" but in our old age, this passion, having little to feed on, becomes sometimes dormant and inert, and then our good qualities rise, as it were from an incubus, and have their sway. ...
— The Disowned, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... quality congregated in Baiae and Puteoli— derived its chief charm from the relations licit and illicit which, along with music and song and elegant breakfasts on board or on shore, enlivened the gondola voyages. There the ladies held absolute sway; but they were by no means content with this domain which rightfully belonged to them; they also acted as politicians, appeared in party conferences, and took part with their money and their intrigues in the wild coterie-doings ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... begin, when the great lady at the Hall, Lady Le Fleming, interfered with a prohibition. She assumed the feudal prerogative of determining what should or should not be built on all the lands over which the Le Flemings have borne sway; and her extraordinary determination was, that no dwelling should be built, except on the site of a former one! We could scarcely believe we had not been carried back into the Middle Ages, when we heard it; but the old poet, whom any sovereign ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 43, May, 1861 • Various

... fanatic and a mystic, he exerted a marvelous sway over the people of Swat, who like all the Afghan tribes, are nervous, imaginative, and given to mysticism. So he became not only their spiritual prophet, but their military ...
— Golden Days for Boys and Girls - Volume XIII, No. 51: November 12, 1892 • Various

... invited to preach. He ought to have had his determined scheme plain before him, and a few sentences, carefully polished, at hand for the beginning and the end. He could trust himself in the middle, and was perfectly conscious of that. He frankly liked preaching, liked it not merely as an actor loves to sway his audience, but liked it because he always knew what to say, and was really keen that people should see his argument. And yet this morning, when he should have been prepared for the best he could do, he ...
— Simon Called Peter • Robert Keable

... own pleasure in seeing the boxes carried upstairs again, in hearing the soft voice talking to Mawson, in sniffing the faint sweet scent that seemed to hang about the house when Miss Reston was in it, conquering the grimmer odour of naphtha and boiled cabbage which generally held sway. ...
— Penny Plain • Anna Buchan (writing as O. Douglas)

... centuries of undisputed sway, the sceptre is seen ready to fall from the nerveless hands of feeble monarchs. Eunuchs usurp authority, and the hydra of rebellion raises its many heads. Minor aspirants are easily extinguished; but three of them survive a conflict of twenty ...
— The Awakening of China • W.A.P. Martin

... well to look at, but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair, like the letter Z, directly you sat down upon the chair. "Get up, Worm," says you, when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. Up you took the chair, and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop—all in a passion. "Damn the chair!" says I. "Just what I was thinking," says you, sir. "I could see it in your face, sir," says I, "and I hope you and God will forgi'e me ...
— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy

... had overcome the world could also cure its ancient sickness. Little as men could see into the issues of the future, the meaning of the present was beyond mistake. The new world faced the old, and all was ready for the league which joined the names of Rome and Christendom, and made the sway of ...
— The Arian Controversy • H. M. Gwatkin

... The boy started and sat straighter in his seat. For one moment he seemed to sway between two impulses, then, with a new determination, he looked straight at his questioner with his ...
— Max • Katherine Cecil Thurston

... these three princes, as you have heard me say, Were men of mighty puissance. They had beneath their sway The noblest knights for liegemen that ever dwelt on ground; For hardihood and prowess were none ...
— Song and Legend From the Middle Ages • William D. McClintock and Porter Lander McClintock

... the kings and of the people, during all this period, was almost wholly engrossed in the wars which they were waging in France. These wars were very successful. The English conquered province after province and castle after castle, until at length almost the whole country was brought under their sway. ...
— Margaret of Anjou - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... head with a cloth. The unfortunate being is then brought to the hollow cone of shavings and seated within it; it is then whirled round till the white shreds rise like a ballet dancer's skirt. Gradually the sick person is worked up to a frenzy, and, keeping time with the music, the medicine women sway about and wag their heads. So the proceedings go on, with weird fantastic dancing, nodding, howling, whistling, chanting, for all the hours of the tropical night. Then the medicine women are whirled round in the cone, and one by one they fall into a ...
— The Pagan Tribes of Borneo • Charles Hose and William McDougall

... travelers, used very strong terms to describe its extent, intelligence, and power. Speaking of its sovereign, he said, "The islands under his sceptre are so numerous that the fastest sailing vessel is not able to go round them in two years," implying that his sway was acknowledged by the island world over a large portion of the Pacific. This Malayan empire was maritime and commercial; it had fleets of great ships; and there is evidence that its influence reached most of the Pacific islands. This is shown ...
— Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology • John D. Baldwin

... rose not thither in vain; The crime of the tyrant was never forgiven; And a blessing was breathed on the race of the slain. Dethroned and degraded, the Stuart took flight, He fled to the land where the Bourbon bore sway, A curse clung to his offspring, a curse and a blight, And in exile and sorrow it wither'd away. But there sprang from the blood of the martyr a race Which for virtue and courage unrival'd has shone; Its honors still worn with a patriot ...
— Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century • James Richard Joy

... flash'd through breast and brain, As with those grand, immortal eyes He stood—his heart on fire to know When morning next illumed the skies, What wonders in its light should glow— O'er all one thought must, in that hour, Have sway'd supreme—Power, conscious Power— The lofty sense that Truths conceived, And born of his own starry mind, And foster'd into might, achieved A new Creation for mankind! And when from off that ocean calm The Tropic's dusky curtain clear'd, All those green shores and banks of balm And rosy-tinted ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844 • Various

... lady, dry your tears, Here's no cause for sighs or fears; Command as freely as you may, Enjoyment still shall mark your sway." ...
— Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know • Various

... bosom aught but thee Encroaching sought a boundless sway, Omniscience could the danger see, And Mercy look ...
— The World's Best Poetry Volume IV. • Bliss Carman

... of the Inquisition was upon Spain. The Moors were banished, the Jews were banished; and it had been the industry of these two races which had largely supported the pride and laziness of the hidalgos. In Italy, too, the Inquisition held sway. Galileo with his telescope revealed facts which proved the theories of Copernicus, and made impossible the ancient idea that our earth was the centre of the universe.[1] All Europe rang with his discoveries; but the Church refused to understand, forbade him to teach doctrines which it declared ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11 • Various

... evolutionary accuracy, yes, there probably was such a time. But, looking at it in a commonsense way the answer is No. To-day we find that savages and aborigines, who are still in the childhood stage of evolution, are immensely susceptible to the sway of rhythm, and in their weird dances to the beating of the Tom-toms accompany their antics with a crooning or chanting, which no doubt to them stands ...
— Spirit and Music • H. Ernest Hunt

... listened to me—you have marvelled—but in your Souls doubt has held sway. Now is the moment of justification! It is not meet that the Great One should plead for recognition; it is for you—the Watchers—to see and claim him. Master!" he cried, suddenly. "Master, show ...
— The Mystics - A Novel • Katherine Cecil Thurston

... of every great nation that has declined shows three periods, the rise, the table-land of greatness, and the decline. During the rise, the military arts hold sway; on the table-land, the arts of peace and war are fairly balanced; during the decline the peaceful arts hold sway. Facilis descensus Averni. The rise is accomplished by expending energy, for which accomplishment ...
— The Navy as a Fighting Machine • Bradley A. Fiske

... few days a veritable seizure of religious enthusiasm held sway over her. She spoke of endowing a hospital, of doing church work among the "slums" of the city. But no sooner had her friends readjusted their points of view to suit this new development than she was off upon another tangent, and was ...
— The Pit • Frank Norris

... has also obtained sway to an alarming extent in the Sunday-school system of our land. The children in the Sunday-school, whether baptized or not, whether from Christian or Christless homes, are looked upon as outsiders, impenitent sinners, utter strangers ...
— The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church • G. H. Gerberding

... the first essay of fortune been, And I no storms thro' all my life had seen, Wild as a colt I'd broke from reason's sway; But frequent griefs have taught me ...
— Cicero's Tusculan Disputations - Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth • Marcus Tullius Cicero

... might be called official duty. He felt sure too that he had now come to the end of his journeyings. In the other towns through which he had travelled he had heard men speak of Werowocomoco and of the great werowance who held sway there, the dreaded ruler over thirty tribes. This large village he knew must be the seat of the head of the Powhatan Confederacy and he was about to be led before him. What would happen then, he wondered, as he walked calmly through the crowd who ...
— The Princess Pocahontas • Virginia Watson

... was one of the happiest it was ever our good fortune to meet with. A smooth, round, ruddy, comfortable face, over which the razor had almost unlimited sway; his mouth was always in shape for a smile; his eyes were of a light blue colour, and twinkled with life and vivacity; his hair was always brushed back behind his ears, terminating behind in a pretty little natural curl and whether it had the black gloss of his younger days, or ...
— Little Abe - Or, The Bishop of Berry Brow • F. Jewell

... from the moment he had entered the kingdom of Thiernah Ogieh. But alas! how was it changed from that country he had left only a few days since, for "the strong had become weak," and "the brave become cowards," while oppression and violence held undisputed sway through land. Overcome with grief, he hastened to the the queen to beg that he might be restored to his country without delay, that he might endeavour to apply some remedy to its misfortunes. The queen's ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 207, October 15, 1853 • Various

... by mutual consent, the major part of the business was postponed until after the tour of the farm, planned for the following day, had been completed. Then with a sigh of relief, they resigned themselves to the sway of that potent charm of blending magnetic and spiritual auras, which so swiftly transports reunited lovers to a paradise of ...
— Solaris Farm - A Story of the Twentieth Century • Milan C. Edson

... had for their own selfish ends been encouraged by his early guardians in sensual pleasures, and never to the last freed himself from his evil habits. "Dissolute as a man, prodigal as a king, and superstitious as a Catholic, he could not but easily fall under the sway of superior minds,"[46] who undertook to free him from the worries of business, to provide him with money, and to regard his failings with indulgence, and on easy terms to absolve him from those grosser excesses which could not fail at ...
— The Scottish Reformation - Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics • Alexander F. Mitchell

... over Dickens' tomb, visioning the man who, by the far-reaching genius of his pen, could sway multitudes to laughter or ...
— Lucile Triumphant • Elizabeth M. Duffield

... Cortes when he first looked down upon the table-land; the king-loving, God-fearing conqueror, his loyalty and religion so blended after the fashion of ancient Spain, that it were hard to say which sentiment exercised over him the greater sway. The city of Tenochtitlan, standing in the midst of the five great lakes, upon verdant and flower-covered islands, a western Venice, with thousands of boats gliding swiftly along its streets, long lines of low houses, diversified ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon de la Barca

... time, and the dinner-hour, instead of being a fixed time beneath her sway, seemed to become a variable point, according to the lady's whim. In the observance of the breakfast-hour she was equally erratic, and on several trying occasions Brinley was on the verge of the dilemma of either failing to keep an appointment in town or going ...
— The Booming of Acre Hill - And Other Reminiscences of Urban and Suburban Life • John Kendrick Bangs

... bed the night before. He constantly had pains all over his body; his limbs failed him, after five minutes' walk; the slightest exertion tired him; the least movement caused him intense pain. At times the floor seemed suddenly to sway beneath his feet. He had a constant buzzing in his ears, flashes of light dazzled his eyes. He took a loathing for wine, he had no longer any appetite, and his digestion was seriously impaired. Then, in the midst ...
— Doctor Pascal • Emile Zola

... that golden stream, one of whose many sources is here, and say, "Here is gold and silver in plenty for all who will fight under the Rainbow Banner," and I shall have armies and fleets to do what I will with, and the sway of my sceptre shall reach from north to ...
— The Romance of Golden Star ... • George Chetwynd Griffith

... as abruptly as she began, and with short, interluding snatches of song, slowly began to sway to the soft rhythm of the music and sharp click of her castanets. First slowly, then swifter and swifter she glided and whirled noiselessly in the moonlight, graceful as a wind-blown rose, or suddenly paused, languid and sensuous, according to the rhapsodic character of ...
— When Dreams Come True • Ritter Brown



Words linked to "Sway" :   oscillate, careen, nutate, act upon, move back and forth, weave, displace, lash, waver, swag, persuade, power, tilt, pitch, totter, rock, move, anti-sway bar, influence



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