_Spear-hedge_, the bristling spears of an army in battle; cf. battle-wood, spear-wood. _Spell-drenched_, stupefied or overwhelmed by magic. _Sphere-stream_, the space beyond the air of this world, in which the planets or spheres move on their courses. _Stark_, stiff, hard, severe. _Staunch_, steadfast, unchanging. _Stead_, n. a place; it is often joined to other words, e.g. hall-stead, a hall or the place where a hall has been, as in the sentence, "I went to the pillared hall-stead;" n. _stead or bestead_, to serve, to aid, e.g. "to stead me in the fight." _Steadfast_, unchanging, faithful, unmoved. _Stithy_, a blacksmith's forge. _Strait_, narrow, cramped. _Stripling_, a young man just grown up; cf. youngling. _Sunder_, to separate, e.g. "We wend on the sundering ways." _Sun-dog_, a bright spot like a faint image of the sun, seen near it in cloudy weather. _Swaddling_, anything that wraps or enfolds, e.g. the coils of Fafnir passing over Sigurd in the pit are called "the swaddling of death." _Swart-haired_, dark-haired. _Swathe_, the long line of mown corn behind a reaper; cf. "swathes of the sword," _i.e._ heaps of dead in battle. _Targe_, a shield. _Tarry_, to wait, to linger, e.g. "Tarry till I say a word." _Thrall_, a slave, "_short-lived thralls of the gods_," mortal men, not dwarfs or giants. _Tide_, time, e.g. "the tide when my father fell;" "the night-tide." _Tiles of Odin_, war shields, so called because Odin was god of war. _Tiller_, the handle of the rudder which steers a ship. _Toils_, snares, fetters. _To-morn_, tomorrow morning. _Train_, to entice, bring by trickery. _Tree-hole_, tree-trunk. _Troth_, a promise, generally a promise of marriage. _Troth-plight_, promised in marriage. _Trow_, to believe. _Twi-bill_, an axe with a double-edged blade. It was the weapon which Odin carried when he appeared to men. _Unbitted_, never taught to obey the bit, not broken in. _Unholpen_, unhelped. Holpen is the old form of the p.p. helped. _Unstable_, changeable, not lasting. _Uttermost horn_, the signal for Ragnarok. It was believed that Heimdall, one of the gods who guarded a bridge called Bifrost between Asgard and the earth, would blow a blast on his horn which would be the sign for the beginning of the great battle between the gods and the powers of evil. _Venom_, poison. _Wall-nook_, an opening or bend in a wall. _Wallow_, to roll about upon the ground, e.g. "Fafnir, the wallower on the gold." _Wan_, pale, pinched with suffering. _Wane_, to fade away, grow dim. _Warding-walls_, guarding-walls. "_Warding walls of death_," man's armour that keeps death from him. _Wards_, keepers, e.g. door-wards; cf. warden. Fafnir is called "the gold-warden." _War-wand_, a sword. _Wary_, careful, ever on the watch. _Waste_, to destroy, to sweep away, e.g. Sigurd is said to "waste every wrong." _Waxen_, grown, become. _Weal_, happiness, good-fortune.