Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SWORD-LAW, n. [sword and law.]

Violence; government by force. – Milton.

SWORD-MAN, n. [sword and man.]

A soldier; a fighting man. – Shak.

SWORD-PLAY-ER, n. [sword and player.]

A fencer; a gladiator; one who exhibits his skill in the use of the sword. – Hakewill.

SWORD-SHAP-ED, a. [sword and shape.]

Ensiform; shaped like a sword; as, a sword-shaped leaf. – Martyn.

SWORE, v. [pret. of Swear.]

SWORN, pp. [of Swear.]

The officers of government are sworn to a faithful discharge of their duty. Sworn friends, is a phrase equivalent to determined, close or firm friends. I am sworn brother, sweet, / To grim necessity. – Shak. Sworn enemies, are determined or irreconcilable enemies.

SWOUND, v.i.

To swoon. [Not in use.] – Shak.

SWUM, v. [pret. and pp. of Swim.]

SWUNG, v. [pret. and pp. of Swing.]

SYB, or SIB, a. [Sax.]

Related by blood. [Obs.]

SYB'A-RITE, n. [from Sybaris.]

A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.

SYB-A-RIT'IC, or SYB-A-RIT'IC-AL, a. [from Sybaritæ, inhabitants of Sybaris, in Italy, who were proverbially voluptuous.]

Luxurious; wanton. – Bp. Hall.

SYC'A-MINE, n. [See SYCAMORE.]

SYC'A-MORE, n. [Gr. συκαμινος, συκομορος, from συκος, a fig, and μορος.]

A species of fig-tree. The name is also incorrectly given the Acer pseudo-platanus, a species of maple. – Cyc. Lee. The sycamore, [falsely so called,] or plane tree of North America, is the Platanus occidentalis of Linnæus, commonly called button wood, or cotton tree.

SYC'A-MORE-MOTH, n.

A large and beautiful moth or night butterfly; so called because its caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the sycamore. – Cyc.

SY'CEE-SIL-VER, n.

The currency in China, in which the government taxes and salaries are paid.

SYC'ITE, n. [Gr. συκος, a fig.]

Fig-stone; a name which some authors give to nodules of flint or pebbles which resemble a fig. – Cyc.

SY-CO'MA, n. [Gr. συκον, a fig.]

A tumor shaped like a fig.

SYC'O-PHAN-CY, n. [infra.]

Originally, information of the clandestine exportation of figs; hence, mean talebearing; obsequious flattery; servility.

SYC'O-PHANT, n. [Gr. συκοφαντη; συκος, a fig, and φαινω, to discover.]

Originally, an informer against those who stole figs, or exported them contrary to law, &c. Hence in time it came to signify a talebearer or informer, in general; hence, a parasite; a mean flatterer; especially a flatterer of princes and great men; hence, a deceiver; an impostor. Its most general use is in the sense of an obsequious flatterer or parasite. – Encyc. Potter's Antiq.

SYC'O-PHANT, or SYC'O-PHANT-IZE, v.t.

To play the sycophant; to flatter meanly and officiously; to inform or tell tales for gaining favor.

SYC-O-PHANT'IC, a.

1. Talebearing; more generally, obsequiously flattering; parasitic; courting favor by men adulation.
2. Sycophantic plants, or parasites, are such as adhere to other plants, and depend on them for support.

SYC'O-PHANT-RY, n.

Mean and officious talebearing adulation. – Barrow.

SY-CO'SIS, n.

A tubercular eruption upon the scalp, or bearded part of the face.

SYD-NE'AN, or SYD-NE'IAN, a.

Denoting a species of white earth brought from Sydney cove in South Wales. – Kirwan.