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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Swer(e, Sweir(e, Sweer, adj. (adv.). Also: suer(e, sueir(e, swier, sweare, suear(e, suair. [ME sware (Orm), swere (a1225), suere (Cursor M.), OE swǽr(e, swár, ON svárr.] Also in the later Sc. and north. Eng. dials.

A. adj. 1. Lazy, slothful; disinclined to be active or to make an effort. Also, metonymically, of parts of the body. Also proverb. and transf.predic. a1400 Leg. S. iii 1139.
Bot, fore I am alde and swere, I will say no mare of hym here ?1438 Alex. ii 9111.
Quhen he hes sene Porrus and Ferrand, That nouther was sueir nor recryand c1420 Ratis R. 1637.
This eild that passis fyfty ȝer Is stabile, couatus and swere 1456 Hay II 157/20.
Sum is hable lycht and expert … and ane othir lythir and hevy, suere as a bere 1490 Irland Mir. III 139/38.
Quhen thai ar fillit of mete or drink than thai ar suer … and gevin to sleip and volupte a1500 Prestis of Peblis 559.
My tung is sweir, my bodie hes na strenth c1500-c1512 Dunb. (STS) lxxx 19.
God … send the many Fraunce crownes Hie liberall heart, and handis nocht sweir, In hansell of this guid new ȝeir 1533 Gau 66/30.
Our bodis sal be na mair hewy or sweir bot swuft Pleugh-song in 1662 Forbes Cantus (1666).
Sweer 1561 M. Napier Mem. J. Napier 77.
I wreit to you oft tymes of befoir and gat na answer as yit; thairfoir be nocht sweir in tymes cuming, bot adverteis of all thyngis ye thynk necessair a1570-86 Maitland in Maitl. F. 27/88.
God … tak away thir ydill lownis … And sornaris that ar sweir a1585 Maitl. Q. 94/1.
Quhen men wes sueir & durst not steir Bot lurkit lidderlie c1630 Haddington Corr. 170.
I thank yow for your particular advertisments and entreat yow to continew that course, albeit I am so sueare that I can not do the lyk 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 218.
Deferred hopes need not make me dead-sweir (as we used to say)proverb. a1598 Ferg. Prov. MS No. 15.
Ane oleit mother makis a sueir dochter a1598 Ferg. Prov. MS No. 1483.
Work for noght maks folk dead sueir 1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 1165.
Mak a licht luf of your awin sweir erss a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 1753.
Ye are stark sueir like Thome Roises meirtransf. 1681 Colvil Whig's Suppl. (1681) ii 8.
Turpentine [etc.] … His medicine for passage sweerattrib. c1460 Wisd. Sol. (STS) 220.
The full suere man … sayand that bettir is ane handfull with rest and pes na baith the handis full with trauell and dyses c1490 Porteous Noblenes 180/8 (Asl.).
Ane man may wele iuge that nobilnes tynis hire in ane swere and dolf hert c1500-c1512 Dunb. Flyt. 130.
Sueir swappit swanky c1500-c1512 Dunb. (STS) xxvi 70.
Mony sweir bumbard belly huddroun, … Him serwit ay with sounȝie a1570-86 Dunb. in Maitl. F. 190/85.
Luif makis sweir folkis full of bissines c1540 Glencairn in Knox I 73.
Sueir swongeouris that will not wirk a1585 Polwart Flyt. 730 (H).
Sweir sow, doild kow, ay fow, foull fall thy banes c1590 J. Stewart 39/321.
Sueire 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. ii 14.
The swere and slowfull man will not plowe, nor labour, be reason of winter: therefore he sall begge in sommer

b. Loath, reluctant, unwilling; dilatory in doing, or disinclined to or to do (something). Also in ellipt. const. swere owt.(1) a1400 Leg. S. vi 535.
And be na way that thai ware swere Goddis vord euir to here a1500 K. Hart 724.
Scho wryit about, to kys scho wes full sweir 1513 Doug. xi Prol. 4.
Gif thou mycht Mars and Hercules deify Quharfor beyn nobillys to follow prowes swer? 1533 Boece 122b.
Ostorius … ordoring his folkis to exhort was nocht swere 1533 Gau 20/3.
Sweirnes is aganis the thrid command and alsua aganis al the laiff for quhy we ar sweir to keip ony of thaime as ve suld dw 1535 Stewart 17994.
In Pechtland als that tyme tha war nocht sweir The faith of Christ amang the pepill to plant 1575 Fam. Rose 267.
I fynd greit fault that ye ar swa sweir to taik your pairt thairof a1630 Sel. Biog. I 355.
Be not sweir to come quhar the Lord conweyis you 1638 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 557.
It is ill my common to be sweer [1671 swier] to go an errand for Christ ?a1648 Polemo-Mid. 60.
Workhorsosque ordine swieros Drivarere omnes Urquhart Rabelais i xxxviii.
One of their company, called Sweer-to-go 16… Wode's Psalter (ed.) 239.
Dame you ar suear to lett us cry(2) 1533 Boece 560.
Robert … contrare thame directit Thomas Randell nocht swere tharto with v^c hors in cumpany a1538 Abell 109a.
He aspirand to the kinrik he spurrit tua at wes nocht sweir to that erand 1535 Stewart 28600.
Thairto the laif wes nothing sweir nor lither 1540 Lynd. Sat. 299.
I was nocht sweir to Venus observance 1596 Dalr. II 180/17.
The quene feiring that gif sche war fund sueir or slaw toward her housband now in distres, sche mycht be suspected of a false hart [etc.](3) 1559–60 St. A. Kirk S. 13.
We haif ower lang abstractit ourselfis, and beyne sweir in adjuning us to Christes congregatioun 1586 Waus Corr. 371.
Ye ar verie sueir in wretin of newis, quhilk I will desyir yow to mend 1602 Misc. Spald. C. II 291.
I sall preserve them till I present them in judgement quhairin giff your lordschip or the parteis beis sueir, I intend [etc.] 1617 Sutherland Bk. II 134.
Be nocht sueir in vryting to me as ye find occatioune(4) a1500 Prestis of Peblis 294 (Asl.).
And for ane iak a raggit cloke has tane Ane swerd swere out & rowsty for the rayne

2. Labouring under a sense of oppression; dull, depressed. a1400 Leg. S. vi 480.
That lichtis the hart & makis it clere, That ignorance be-fore mad swere 1456 Hay II 119/31.
And he that has a wayke calde stomak, he is of hevy chere and hevy hertit and sad and suere a1582 Sir Colling 117.
Last quhan I had him in my armis I thocht him sveir as svair [: air, lair, mair] And now he lyis wpone [blank in MS] Lyke for to leif na mair

b. transf. Gloomy, oppressive. 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 136/451.
The sweirest night, her horrours did Redouble in euery case

B. adv. = Swerely adv. 1650 Carstairs Lett. 73.
I heard … that the Lord had safelie brought you to bed of a daughter, … but O, how sueir drawen is my heart with all these cords of a man and bands of love!