geswencan

Meaning

1. to cause distress, fatigue

   ⁊ þȳ ilcan ġēare fōr Odda Rōmana cāsere tō Grēclande, ⁊ þā ġemette hē þāra Sarcena myċele fyrde cuman upp of sǣ, ⁊ woldon þā faran on hergoð on þæt Crīstene folc; ⁊ þā ġefeaht þā cāsere wið hī. ⁊ þǣr wæs myċel wæl ġeslæġen on ġehwæþere hand, ⁊ sē cāsere āhte wælstōwe ġeweald. ⁊ hwæðere hē þǣr wæs miċċlum ġeswenced, ǣr hē þanon hwurfe, ⁊ þā hē hāmweard fōr. ⁊ hē wæs Lēodul

   And in the same year, Emperor Otto of Rome went to Greece, and there he encountered a great army of Saracens who had come up from the sea, and intended to then go make war against the Christian people; and so the emperor then fought against them. There was great slaughter on each side, and the emperor took control of the battlefield. Nevertheless, he was very fatigued, and so thence turned around

   The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

2. to ill-treat, harass, punish, torture

   Moyses, ðurh Godes mihte, āwende eal heora wæter tō rēadum blōde, and hē āfylde eal heora land mid froggon, and siððan mid gnættum, eft mid hundes lūsum, ðā flugon into heora mūðe and heora næsðyrlum; and sē Ælmihtiġa ðone mōdiġan cyning mid þām eaðelicum ġesċeaftum swā gėswencte...

   Moses, through the power of God, turned all their water into red blood, and filled all of their land with frogs, and then with gnats, and afterwards with dogflies, which flew into their mouths and their nostrils; the Almighty punished their proud king in that way with every kind of creature...

   Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

3. to distress, disturb

4. to oppress

Conjugation