swathe (v.)

"to bind with bandages, swaddle, wrap," Old English swaþian "to swathe, wrap up," from swaðu "track, trace" (see swath). The noun meaning "infant's swaddling bands" was found in Old English as swaþum (dative plural). Related: Swathed; swathing.

Entries linking to swathe

swath (n.)

Old English swæð, swaðu "track, footstep, trace, scar, vestige," from Proto-Germanic *swathan, *swatho (source also of Old Frisian swethe "boundary made by a scythe," Middle Dutch swade, Dutch zwade, German Schwad "a row of cut grass"); of uncertain origin. Meaning "a mown crop lying on the ground" is from early 14c.; that of "space covered by the single cut of a scythe" emerged late 15c., and that of "a strip, lengthwise extent" is from c. 1600.

swaddle (v.)

"bind with long strips of cloth," late 15c. alteration of Middle English swathlen (c. 1200), probably a frequentative form of Old English swaþian (see swathe). Related: Swaddled; swaddling. Phrase swaddling clothes is from Coverdale (1535) translation of Luke ii.7.

Young children ... are still bandaged in this manner in many parts of Europe to prevent them from using their limbs freely, owing to a fancy that those who are left free in infancy become deformed. [Century Dictionary, 1891]

Wyclif uses swathing-clothes (late 14c.).

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Definitions of swathe

swathe (v.)

wrap in swaddling clothes;

Synonyms: swaddle

swathe (n.)

an enveloping bandage;

Synonyms: wrapping

From wordnet.princeton.edu

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