Adjacent Words

Swine definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SWINE, n. sing. and plu. A hog, a quadruped of the genus Sus, which furnishes man with a large portion of his most nourishing food. The fat or lard of this animal enters into various dishes in cookery. The swine is a heavy, stupid animal, and delights to wallow in the mire.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: stout-bodied short-legged omnivorous animals

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural swine) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sw?n; akin to Old High German sw?n swine, Latin sus — more at sow Date: before 12th century 1. any of various stout-bodied short-legged omnivorous artiodactyl mammals (family Suidae) with a thick bristly skin and a long flexible snout; especially a domesticated one descended from the wild boar 2. a contemptible person

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. same) 1 formal or US a pig. 2 colloq. (pl. swine or swines) a a term of contempt or disgust for a person. b a very unpleasant or difficult thing. Phrases and idioms: swine fever an intestinal virus disease of pigs. Derivatives: swinish adj. (esp. in sense 2). swinishly adv. swinishness n. Etymology: OE swin f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Swine Swine, n.sing. & pl. [OE. swin, AS. sw[=i]n; akin to OFries. & OS. swin, D. zwijn, G. schwein, OHG. sw[=i]n, Icel. sv[=i]n, Sw. svin, Dan. sviin, Goth. swein; originally a diminutive corresponding to E. sow. See Sow, n.] (Zo["o]l.) Any animal of the hog kind, especially one of the domestical species. Swine secrete a large amount of subcutaneous fat, which, when extracted, is known as lard. The male is specifically called boar, the female, sow, and the young, pig. See Hog. ``A great herd of swine.'' --Mark v. 11. Swine grass (Bot.), knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare); -- so called because eaten by swine. Swine oat (Bot.), a kind of oat sometimes grown for swine. Swine's cress (Bot.), a species of cress of the genus Senebiera (S. Coronopus). Swine's head, a dolt; a blockhead. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Swine thistle (Bot.), the sow thistle.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(swines) Note: The form 'swines' is used as the plural for meaning 1; 'swine' is used as both the singular and plural for meaning 2. 1. If you call someone a swine, you dislike them or think that they are a bad person, usually because they have behaved unpleasantly towards you. (INFORMAL) N-COUNT [disapproval] 2. A swine is a pig. (TECHNICAL or OLD-FASHIONED) ...imports of live swine from Canada. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev. 11:7; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33). Spoken of figuratively in Matt. 7:6 (see Prov. 11:22). It is frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the marshes of the Jordan valley (Ps. 80:13).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

swin (chazir; compare Arabic khinzir; hus, Septuagint and New Testament; compare Greek sus, and Latin sus; adjective hueios, as a substantive, the Septuagint; choiros, Septuagint and New Testament): In both ancient and modern times domestic swine have been little kept in Palestine, but wild swine are well known as inhabitants of the thickets of the Chuleh, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and some of the mountains. The species is Susanna scrofa, the wild pig of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

In the Old Testament the swine is mentioned in Le 11:7 and De 14:8 as an unclean animal: "And the swine, because he parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you." In Isa 65:4 and 66:3,17 the eating of swine's flesh and the offering of oblations of swine's blood are referred to as abominations. Septuagint also refers to swine in three passages where these animals are not mentioned in the Hebrew and EV. In 2Sa 17:8 where English Versions of the Bible has "as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field," Septuagint adds (translation) "and as a savage boar in the plain." In 1Ki 21:19 Septuagint 20:19), where English Versions of the Bible has "in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth," Septuagint has "where the swine and the dogs licked"; similarly in 1Ki 22:38. In 1 Macc 1:47 there is reference to a decree of Antiochus ordering the sacrifice of swine. In 2 Macc 6 and 7 there are accounts of the torture and death of Eleazar, an aged scribe, and of a mother and her seven sons for refusing to taste swine's flesh. Swine, the property of Gentiles, are mentioned in the account of the Gadarene demoniac (Mt 8:30,31,32; Mr 5:11,12,13,14,16; Lu 8:32,33), and in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lu 15:15,16).

Figurative: We find the following figurative references to swine:

"The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,

And the wild beasts of the field feed on it" (i.e. on the "vine out of Egypt") (Ps 80:13);

"As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,

So is a fair woman that is without discretion"

(Pr 11:22);

"The Carmonians (the King James Version Carmanians, perhaps of Kirman or Carmania, in Southwestern Persia) raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood"

(2 Esdras 15:30);

"The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire"

(2Pe 2:22; compare Pr 26:11).

Alfred Ely Day

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. sing. and pl. 1. Hog, pig, porker. 2. Hogs (collectively).

Moby Thesaurus

Berkshire, Cyrenaic, Duroc, Duroc-Jersey, Heliogabalus, Hereford, Sardanapalus, Wessex saddleback, Yorkshire, animal, barrow, beast, boar, bon vivant, carpet knight, cur, dog, drab, epicure, epicurean, frump, gilt, gourmand, gourmet, hedonist, hog, hound, hyena, insect, large white, litterbug, mongrel, pig, piggy, piglet, pigling, pleasure-seeker, polecat, porker, razorback, reptile, schlep, schlump, sensualist, sensuist, serpent, shoat, skunk, slattern, slob, sloppy Joe, sloven, slut, snake, sow, suckling pig, sybarite, trollop, tusker, varmint, vermin, viper, voluptuary, whelp, wild boar, worm