swan
part of speech
noun (a swan, swans); verb (swan, swans, swanned, swanning — informal, UK)
meaning for a pupil
1) A swan is a large water bird, usually white, with a long curved neck. tree →
2) (informal, UK) To swan around or off is to go somewhere in a relaxed, carefree way, often while others are working. tree →
sense in the lessons
In nature lessons swans are birds that live on rivers and lakes; young swans are cygnets, a male is a cob and a female a pen. In stories, like «The Ugly Duckling», the swan stands for beauty and grace. In British informal speech «swanning off» shows annoyance at someone who enjoys themselves.
examples
- Two white swans glided across the lake. tree →
- A baby swan is called a cygnet. tree →
- Black swans live in Australia. tree →
- Don't feed swans bread; give them peas or seeds. tree →
- The ugly duckling grew up to be a beautiful swan. tree →
- Swans can be fierce if you go near their nest. tree →
- He swanned off to the beach while we cleaned up. tree →
- She swans around as if she owns the place. tree →
note
Plural: swans. Past of the verb: swanned. Safety: swans protect their young and can hurt people who come too close. The verb is informal and British.
In the corpora
- Swans, many parrots and albatrosses keep the same partner for years, and some albatross pairs stay together for 50 years or more.
- In spring a mallard mother marches a wobbly line of ducklings across the path while a swan hisses at anyone near its nest.
- Cartoon ducks gobble whole loaves of bread and cartoon swans break people's arms.
- Real ducks are better off with peas and oats, and a swan just wants you to give it space.
- Toad: «Me complain of that beautiful, that heavenly vision ... that swan, that sunbeam, that thunderbolt! ...
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «swan» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.