(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) A substance, often liquid in form, made by boiling a mixture of oils or fats and lye, and used for washing and cleansing and in medicine as a cleansing agent, corrosive, etc., soap; also, fig. a……
(a) A female swine, sow; soue swin, swin soue; soue blod (flesh, milk, pappe, tail); (b) a representation of a sow in sculpture; (c) fig. as a symbol of gluttony; (d) soues thistel, = soue-thistel n……
A large iron nail; -- also coll.; ?also, the act of fastening with a spike [quot. 1431-2]; spiking nail; cok spiking, ?a nail resembling a cockspur; double (gret, gros, middel) spiking.
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(a) A loop or strap on a horse's harness; ?also, some kind of strap for a cart; (b) naut. a loop of rope, hide, or metal used to connect blocks and yards with the ropes in a ship's rigging, a strop……
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 piece of decorative fabric bearing a painted, embroidered, or woven pattern or figures and used variously as a carpet, coverlet, bed or wall hanging, or the like, a tapestry; also fig.; also in……
(a) A brick; a masonry tile;—also coll.; brenned tile; clei tile; (b) in related cpds., combs., & phrases: tile of flaundres, flaundres (flaundrish) tile, bricks or tile made in Flanders; tile ston……
