"stylish, classy, posh," 1913, from earlier noun or verb; "A midland and s.w. dial. word taken into general slang use at the beginning of the 20th cent." [OED]; compare swank (n.) "ostentatious behavior," noted in 1854 as a Northampton word; swank (v.), from 1809 as "to strut, behave ostentatiously." Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *swank-, from PIE *sweng(w)-, a Germanic root meaning "to swing, turn, toss" (cognates: Middle High German swanken "to sway, totter, turn, swing," Old High German swingan "to swing;" see swing (v.)). Perhaps the notion is of "swinging" the body ostentatiously (compare swagger).
A separate word-thread derives from Old English swancor "pliant, bending," and from this comes swanky (n.) "active or clever young fellow" (c. 1500).
双语例句
1. There was no swank in Martin.
马丁从不炫耀自己。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It was Swank's judgment that he had become irrelevant.
斯旺克的评价是,此人已无足轻重了.
来自辞典例句
3. Don't be such a swank!
别那麽招摇!
来自辞典例句
4. Swank as well as I still hoped that perhaps they had not shown their hand completely.
斯旺克和我仍抱希望,也许他们还没有完全亮出他们的牌.
来自辞典例句
5. Swank was born in Washington State, or perhaps Nebraska.
