A group of sheaves of grain placed on end and leaning against one another in order to dry, a shock, stook; (b) fig. …

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

(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) One of the metal plates making up or reinforcing armor; also, ?one of a pair of armor pieces for protecting the lower part of the arm [quot. 1374]; splent of stele; (b) a slender piece of wood; a……

(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) 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……

A wrecked ship, shipwreck; ship wrak; toward a wrak, on the verge of being wrecked; gon (ben igone) to wrak, of a ship: to suffer destruction on the water, be wrecked; also in fig. context. …