Citations:swanship

ship

 * 1979, Lorna Baxter, The eggchild (Dutton Juvenile, ISBN 9780525291558):
 * "That's what I feel," replied Jasper, relieved, then chuckled to see the sleek, bewhiskered head of a seal pop out of the water by the swanship.
 * 1983, Dikkon Eberhart, Paradise: A Novel (Stemmer House Pub.), page 14:
 * He might have been drowned, along with fat Basil, that arrogant merchant, when the swanship broke apart. Indeed, he thought, in all of his wanderings since his birth in the Carthaginian hills, he had rarely been far from death.
 * 2009, Dave Freer, Dragon's Ring (Baen Publishing, ISBN 9781618247421):
 * The alvar swan-ship had been closing on them with some speed. Now Meb could see that the sailors were frantically working in the rigging.
 * 2013, John R. Fultz, Seven Sorcerers (Orbit, ISBN 9780316235495):
 * Undutu clung to the scorched keel of the swanship. His crown and sword were lost to him, as was his mighty fleet and all its proud warriors. A score of burns marked his lean body, yet he shouted defiance at the dreadnoughts ...
 * 2015, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Bitterbynde Trilogy: The Ill-Made Mute, The Lady of the Sorrows, The Battle of Evernight (Open Road Media, ISBN 9781504019064):
 * The swan-ship sailed from Waterstair for the occasion, the side of the hill having been knocked out to allow its egress.
 * , James Swallow, Stargate SG1 - Relativity: SG1-10 (Fandemonium Books):
 * As they made their way toward the parked fighters, Daniel glanced toward the fourth Pack pilot returning from the site of the crashed swan-ship.

probably a ship

 * 2015, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Lady of the Sorrows (Open Road Media, ISBN 9781504019040):
 * Over everything burned the cold, crystal flame of the swan-ship. Certainly no change had been wrought in the beauty and wholesomeness of any of the artifacts. So much beauty—and so much blood had been spilled for it.

swan-ness, swan-hood

 * 1879, Truth, page 270:
 * ... his calves are always two-headed, though the swans of both stables have frequently proved a long way behind the geese of more modest people; not but that Isonomy has fairly proved his qualifications to a moderate standard of swanship.
 * 1904, Lou Lawrence, The Confessions of an Old Maid, page 82-83:
 * "If I were in your place, I'd be as much like a swan as possible." [...] "[T]he doctrine had a bad effect on me, and I got so far away from swanship that it is slow work getting back."
 * 1906, Van Tassel Sutphen, The Doomsman, page 72:
 * [...] and with a figure that was all flatness and unlovely angles. Certainly an exceedingly ugly duckling, yet there was promise of future swanship in the clean curves of her neck and in the firm poise of the small head. Moreover, her coloring was good, a clear brown...
 * 1910, The Pall Mall Magazine:
 * "A flight towards swanship, certainly." "Full swanship," said the girl. "I won't have him for a swan yet in my aviary; he must first grow other and finer feathers."
 * 1912, The Nation, page 15:
 * The biography bears the ever-accompanying character of historical writings, with this aim: the obscuring of unpleasant episodes, the promotion of all geese to swanship. The people of the West are particularly sensitive to criticism.
 * 1943, Dent Smith, Encore: A Continuing Anthology:
 * He is a dingy duck who would assume swanship, a crow who would strut as a peacock, an alley cat who would pass himself off as a lion. Imagining himself gifted above all of us perfected craftsmen, he has the effrontery to range ...

the office of a master of swans

 * 1868, John Timbs, London and Westminster: City and Suburb: Strange Events, Characteristics, and Changes, of Metropolitan Life, page 80:
 * The king had formerly a swan-herd, not only on the Thames but in several other parts of the kingdom; and we find persons exercising the office of “Master of the King's Swans,” sometimes called the swanship. The laws relating to swans are ...
 * 1953, Robert Somerville, 1265-1603 (London, Chancellor and Council of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1953-).
 * [...] Keeper of Soham warren, with swanship in Soham mere, 12 March 1510 (ibid., f. 13; styled &quot;esquire&quot;), steward Savoy manor, 31 Jan 1523 (ibid., f. 60).

the office of a swan (compare lordship, ladyship)

 * 1860, James Caughey, Ralph William Allen, Showers of Blessing from Clouds of Mercy, page 394:
 * One day I greatly disturbed her swanship, enjoying her siesta ...