swike meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

swike

verb

/swaɪk/

Etymology From Middle English swiken, from Old English swīcan (“to wander, depart, cease from, yield, give way, fail, fall short, be wanting, abandon, desert, turn traitor, deceive, rebel”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīkwan, from Proto-Germanic *swīkwaną (“to dodge, swerve, avoid, betray”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyg- (“to turn, move around, wander, swing”).

1

Dialectal, Obsolete To deceive, cheat; betray.

2

Dialectal, Obsolete To stop, cease.

swike

adj

Etymology From Middle English swiken, from Old English swīcan (“to wander, depart, cease from, yield, give way, fail, fall short, be wanting, abandon, desert, turn traitor, deceive, rebel”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīkwan, from Proto-Germanic *swīkwaną (“to dodge, swerve, avoid, betray”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyg- (“to turn, move around, wander, swing”).

1

Dialectal, Obsolete Deceitful; treacherous.

swike

noun

Etymology From Middle English swiken, from Old English swīcan (“to wander, depart, cease from, yield, give way, fail, fall short, be wanting, abandon, desert, turn traitor, deceive, rebel”), from Proto-West Germanic *swīkwan, from Proto-Germanic *swīkwaną (“to dodge, swerve, avoid, betray”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweyg- (“to turn, move around, wander, swing”).

1

Scotland, Dialectal Deceit; treachery.

2

Dialectal, Obsolete A deceiver; betrayer, traitor.

The Saxon Chronicle contradicts itself as to Algar's outlawry, stating in one passage that he was outlawed without any kind of guilt, and in another that he was outlawed as swike, or traitor, and that he made a confession of it before all the men there gathered.1848, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Harold, the Last of the Saxons:

3

Dialectal, Obsolete A hiding place; den; cave.