sward

1. (uncountable) Earth which grass has grown into the upper layer of; greensward, sod, turf; (countable) a portion of such earth.Examples: "His eyes he op'nd, and beheld a field, / Part arable and tilth, whereon were Sheaves / New reapt, the other part ſheep-walks and foulds; / Ith' midſt an Altar as the Land-mark ſtood / Ruſtic, of graſſie ſord; […]"; "There is a dale in Ida, lovelier / Than any in old Ionia, beautiful / With emerald slopes of sunny sward, that lean / Above the loud glenriver, which hath worn / A path thro' steepdown granite walls below / Mantled with flowering tendriltwine."; "The road wound through the greenest sward, in which trees of venerable growth were relieved by a profusion of shrubs, and flowers gathered into baskets intertwined with creepers, or blooming from Etruscan vases, placed with a tasteful and classic care, in such spots as required filling up, and harmonised well with the object chosen."uncountable

2. (countable) An expanse of land covered in grass; a lawn or meadow.Examples: "It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by."; "[O]f a sudden the trees began to thin and the sward to spread out onto a broad, green lawn, where five cows lay in the sunshine and droves of black swine wandered unchecked."; "Only where George stood was there left a sward as of yore; the great, level, green lawn that served for both the Major's house and his daughter's."Synonyms: fieldcountable

3. (countable, obsolete) The upper layer of the ground, especially when vegetation is growing on it.Examples: "The roots of the Apple-tree, Olive, and Cypreſſe, lie very ebbe, and creepe hard under the ſourd of the ground."countableobsolete

4. (countable, obsolete except British, dialectal) The rind of bacon or pork; also, the outer covering or skin of something.countabledialectal