swain: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Thursday, June 3, 2010 swain \SWEYN\, noun: 1. A male admirer or lover. 2. A country lad. 3. A country gallant. Ms. Henley knows too how life-changing revelations arrive in grotesque little packages, as when Lenny admits over the phone her traumatizing inability to have babies and forthwith counters her swain's answer with a slight shock and vast elation: "They're not all little snot- nosed pigs! -- John Simon, ""Living Beings, Cardboard Symbols", New York Magazine A nymph and a swain to Apollo once prayed/ The swain had been jilted, the nymph been betrayed/ They came for to try if his oracle knew/ E're a nymph that was chaste, or a swain that was true. -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's almanack : being the choicest morsels of wisdom written during the years of the Almanack's publication Swain evolves from swein, Old English for "servant". Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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