swack

English

Etymology 1

From Scots swack, from Middle English swac (“weak”), from Old English *swæc (found in derivative swæcehēow (“weakmindedness, nonsense”)), from Proto-Germanic *swakaz (“weak”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian swäk, West Frisian swak, Dutch zwak, German Low German swack, German schwach.

Adjective

swack (comparative swacker, superlative swackest)

  1. (Scotland) Lithe; nimble.
    • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 37:
      it came the turn of a brave young childe with a red head and the swackest legs you ever saw, […] and as soon as he began the drill you saw he'd carry off the prize.

Etymology 2

UK c. 1860s. Used at Christ's Hospital School, Sussex.

Noun

swack (plural swacks)

  1. (dated, Britain, school slang) A deception; a trick.
Synonyms
  • See also Thesaurus:deception
Derived terms

References

  • Farmer, John Stephen (1900) The Public School Word-Book‎, London: Hirshfeld Brothers, page 240
  • Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 8th edition, 1984

Anagrams

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

swak +‎ -k

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [swatsk]

Noun

swack m

  1. diminutive of swak (brother-in-law)

Declension

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