Sway \Sway\, n.

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; the swing or sweep of a weapon.

With huge two-handed sway brandished aloft. --Milton.

2. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side; as, the sway of desires. --A. Tucker.

3. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.

Expert When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway Of battle. --Milton.

4. Rule; dominion; control. --Cowper.

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honor is a private station. --Addison.

5. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work. [Prov. Eng.]

--Halliwell.

Syn: Rule; dominion; power; empire; control; influence; direction; preponderance; ascendency.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Sway \Sway\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Swayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Swaying.]

[OE. sweyen, Icel. sveigja, akin to E. swing; cf. D. zwaaijen to wield, swing. See Swing, and cf. Swag, v. i.]

1. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield; as, to sway the scepter.

As sparkles from the anvil rise, When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed. --Spenser.

2. To influence or direct by power and authority; by persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide.

The will of man is by his reason swayed. --Shak.

She could not sway her house. --Shak.

This was the race To sway the world, and land and sea subdue. --Dryden.

3. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp; as, reeds swayed by wind; judgment swayed by passion.

As bowls run true by being made On purpose false, and to be swayed. --Hudibras.

Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest. --Tillotson.

4. (Naut.) To hoist; as, to sway up the yards.

Syn: To bias; rule; govern; direct; influence; swing; move; wave; wield.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Sway \Sway\, v. i.

1. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.

The balance sways on our part. --Bacon.

2. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward.

3. To have weight or influence.

The example of sundry churches . . . doth sway much. --Hooker.

4. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Hadst thou swayed as kings should do. --Shak.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)