See Also: swan(encyclopedia)
swan(dictionary)
swan(2)(dictionary)
swan(1)(dictionary)
Swan(medicine)
swan 1, noun(dictionary)
Swan Lake(dictionary)
swan 2, verb(dictionary)
Swan Airlines(tourism)
whistling swan(encyclopedia)

swan(1) (iou)



swan noun.
[Old English swan = Old Saxon, Old High German swan (German Schwan), Old Norse svanr from Germanic, repr. also by Middle Low German, Middle Dutch swane (Dutch zwaan), Old High German swana (German dial. Schwane).]
Any of several large web-footed swimming birds constituting the genera Cygnus and Coscoroba (family Anatidae), characterized by a long and gracefully curved neck, with all-white plumage and black feet (in the northern-hemisphere forms). OE.
Bewick's swan, mute swan, whooper swan, etc.
b. A figure of a swan, as in heraldry. LME.
c. (Usu. Swan.) The constellation Cygnus. M16.
a. An immaculate or faultless person; an excellent thing. ME.
b. A singer; a bard, a poet (with allus. to the myth that the swan sings before its death). Chiefly with specifying word designating a river. literary. E17.
An apparently aimless journey; an excursion made for reconnaissance or for pleasure. slang (orig. Military). M20.
Phrases: black swan: see BLACK adjective. the Swan of Avon Shakespeare. turn geese into swans: see GOOSE noun.
Comb.: swan animalcule any of various ciliate protozoans of the genus Lacrymaria and related genera, which have a long flexible and extensible anterior prolongation; swan dive N. Amer. a swallow dive; swan-drop (a) the knob on a swan's bill; (b) = swan-shot below; swan flower = swan plant below; swan goose a large long-necked goose, Anser cygnoides, which breeds in NE Asia; swanherd a person who tends swans; an official having charge of swans; swan-hopper = swan-upper below; swan-hopping = swan-upping below; swan-maiden [after German Schwanenjungfrau] Germanic Mythology a maiden having the power of transforming herself into a swan by means of a robe of swan's feathers or of a magic ring or chain; swan-mark an official mark of ownership cut on the beak of a swan in swan-upping; swan-marking the operation of marking swans, swan-upping; swan mussel a large European freshwater mussel, Anodonta cygnea, which is found in ponds and slow-moving rivers; swan plant any of various tropical epiphytic orchids constituting the genus Cycnoches, having flowers with a long curved column; swan's egg a small oval variety of pear; swan-shot large shot used for shooting swans or in angling as a weight; swansong (a) a song like that fabled to be sung by a dying swan; (b) the last work or performance of a writer, artist, etc., before death or retirement; gen. any final action or effort; swan-upper an official who takes up and marks swans; swan-upping the practice of annually taking up and marking swans (esp. on the River Thames) with nicks on the beak in token of being owned by the Crown or some corporation; swan-white adjective (poet.) as white as a swan, snow-white.
swanlike adjective resembling (that of) a swan L16.