SWAY, v.t.

1. The swing or sweep of a weapon. To strike with huge two-handed sway. – Milton.
2. Any thing moving with bulk and power. Are not you mov'd when all the sway of earth / Shakes like a thing unfirm? – Shak.
3. Preponderation; turn or cast of balance. Expert / When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway of battle. – Milton.
4. Power exerted in governing; rule; dominion; control. When vice prevails and impious men bear sway, / The post of honor is a private station. – Addison.
5. Influence; weight or authority that inclines to one side; as, the sway of desires. All the world is subject to the sway of fashion.

1. To be drawn to one side by weight; to lean. A wail sways to the west. The balance sways on our part. – Bacon. [This sense seems to indicate that this word and swag, are radically one.]
2. To have weight or influence. The example of sundry churches … doth sway much. – Hooker.
3. To bear rule; to govern. Must thou sway'd as kings should do. – Shak.
4. In seamen's language, to hoist; particularly applied to the lower yards and to the topmost yards, &c.

1. To move or wave; to wield with the hand; as, to sway the scepter.
2. To bias; to cause to lean or incline to one side. Let not temporal advantages sway you from the line of duty. The king was swayed by his council from the course he intended to pursue. As bowls run true by being made / On purpose false, and to be sway'd. – Hudibras.
3. To rule; to govern; to influence or direct by power and authority, or by moral force. This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue. – Dryden. She could not sway her house. – Shak. Take heed lest passion sway / Thy judgment to do aught which else free will / Would not admit. – Milton.

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. Spenser.

2. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   
   

   The balance sways on our part. Bacon.

3. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; the swing or sweep of a weapon.
   
   

   With huge two-handed sway brandished aloft. Milton.

4. 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. Shak.

   She could not sway her house. Shak.

   This was the race
   To sway the world, and land and sea subdue. Dryden.

5. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward.
6. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side; as, the sway of desires.
   
   
   A. Tucker.
7. 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. Hudibras.

   Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest. Tillotson.

8. To have weight or influence.
   
   

   The example of sundry churches . . . doth sway much. Hooker.

9. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
   
   

   Expert
   When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway
   Of battle. Milton.

10. To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.
    
    

    Syn. -- To bias; rule; govern; direct; influence; swing; move; wave; wield.

11. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.
    
    

    Hadst thou swayed as kings should do. Shak.

12. Rule; dominion; control.
    
    
    Cowper.

    When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
    The post of honor is a private station. Addison.

13. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
    
    
    [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

    Syn. -- Rule; dominion; power; empire; control; influence; direction; preponderance; ascendency.