Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SWAY, v.i.

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.