Forswink

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To wear oneself out completely by working excessively hard, an archaic verb for becoming weary from toil
2. Archaic term meaning to tire yourself out through overwork until you are utterly exhausted and spent
3. Old verb describing the act of labouring so hard that one becomes thoroughly worn out and weary

Etymology: "Forswink" is an archaic English verb meaning to exhaust or overwork oneself through toil, usually in the past participle form "forswonken," which is the form that survived longest. Its roots are plain: it combines the intensive prefix "for-" with "swink," an older word for hard labour. In Middle English, "for-" could strengthen a verb to signal completeness or excess, so "forswinken" conveyed toil carried to the point of utter fatigue. The base word "swink" is itself a survival of Old English "swincan," meaning to labour or toil, and it passed into Middle English largely intact. Because "swink" faded from everyday speech while "for-" compounds mostly followed it, "forswink" stayed in poetry and older literature long after common speakers had dropped the simpler verb, which is why it still sounds unmistakably medieval to modern ears.

Synonyms: exhaust, tire, weary

Antonyms: rest