sway

1. (intransitive) To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.Examples: "sway to the music"; "The trees swayed in the breeze."; "Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines."intransitive

2. (transitive) To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.Examples: "to sway the sceptre"; "As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly, / When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid"transitive

3. (transitive) To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.Examples: "Do you think you can sway their decision?"; "This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue."; "After all this time […] the woman who endured all that by focusing on her hit list can be swayed from her course by the prospect of her family and her home."transitive

4. (transitive) To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; to warp.Examples: "reeds swayed by the wind"; "judgment swayed by passion"; "Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest."transitive

5. (nautical, transitive) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.Examples: "to sway up the yards"transitive