swarf

Meanings

Noun

  • The waste chips or shavings from an abrasive activity, such as metalworking, a saw cutting wood, or the use of a grindstone or whetstone.
  • A particular waste chip or shaving.
  • A faint or swoon.

Verb

  • To grind down.
  • To grow languid; to faint.

Origin

  • From Middle English *swarf, *swerf, from Old English ġeswearf, ġesweorf and/or Old Norse svarf ("metallic dust"), both from Proto-Germanic *swarbą ("that which is rubbed off; shavings"), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną ("to mop, wipe; to rub off"); see further at swerve. The word is cognate to Old English sweorfan ("to rub, scour; to file").
  • From Middle English swarven, swerven, from Old English sweorfan ("to wipe; to polish; to rub, scour; to file"), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną ("to mop, wipe; to rub off"). The word is cognate to Middle Dutch swerven ("to rove; to stray") (whence Dutch zwerven ("to roam")), Low German swarven ("to rove; to stray; to riot"), Old Norse svarfa ("to sweep; to be agitated, upset"), Norwegian svarva ("to agitate"), sverva. See swerve.

Modern English dictionary

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