(a) A natural or man-made depression in the ground, hole, pit, ditch; cave; also fig.; also, an open excavation from which some mineral product is obtained or in which some industrial process is……

(a) An implement for drawing or taking up liquids, prob. usu. provided with a handle; a scoop; also fig.; (b) a scoop for use on a boat, usu. for bailing water; (c) a scoop used in the brewing……

(a) To scour, polish; polish or scour (metal, a pot, etc.); furbish (armor); ?also, fig. of a day: be bright and clear [quot.: a1375]; scouren bright (clene, neue), make (sth.) bright (clean, new) by……

(a) A flat-bottomed boat, barge; (b) shout man, the master of a shoute; also, a sailor on a shoute; also as surname. …

A shoot, sprout. …

A kind of sweetmeat, perh. candied fruit or sugar plums. …

(a) A piece of timber used in building; a rafter, beam; a board; -- also coll.; firre sparre; hilinge of sparres, a roof; joininge of sparres, a roof or building; maister sparre, a main beam or……

(a) A fish of the family Clupeidae, esp. the sprat Clupea sprattus; ?also, a shoal of sprats [quot. ?a1500, 1st]; also, the pilchard Sardinia pilchardus; also, any small fish of the genus Merlangus……

(a) A woven basket; ?also, a bucket; (b) a hollow stem or cane. …

For all words beginning with sw- from here to the end of this volume [of the print MED], the practice of the MED is to record all variant forms except those beginning with su-; forms with su- are……

(a) A clasp or similar fastener; (b) a nail of some kind;— ?also coll. [quot. c1390], perh. with play on sense (a); tak nail. …

(a) Large-scale military conflict between countries, peoples, rulers, etc. or between factions or forces within a single country, war, warfare;—also pl.; wer faringe, q.v.; open (pleine) wer, open……