Definition of "swain"

swain

/sweɪn/

noun
plural swains
1. (obsolete) A young man or boy in service; a servant.
2. (obsolete) A knight's servant; an attendant.
3. (archaic) A country labourer; a countryman, a rustic.
  Quotations
  theſe that ſeeme but ſilly country Swaines,May haue the leading of so great an hoſte,As with their waight ſhal make the mountains quake.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act I, scene ii
4. (poetic) A rural lover; a male sweetheart in a pastoral setting.
  Quotations
  Why thus from the Plain does my Shepherdess roveForsaking Her Swain and neglecting his love?
  a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Chanson Francoise. Translated”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 687
  You're the belle of the ball, and these are all your swains, hoping for a glimpse of ankle.
  2016 Zack Woods (as Donald "Jared" Dunn), "Founder Friendly", Silicon Valley episode 19