sway to

sway to (something)

1. To incline, bend, or veer to some particular side or direction. The ball swayed to the right as it traveled through the air. The physiotherapist said my left foot sways to the side while I run, which is probably what's causing the pain in my ankle.
2. To move, swing, bend, etc., in time with some rhythm or melody. The crowd just silently swayed to the singer's crooning voice. I felt myself swaying to the beating drums.
3. To convince, persuade, or influence someone to do, believe, or accept something. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "sway" and "to." Against all odds, she somehow managed to sway the board to accept her proposal. I'll try to sway the district attorney to drop the charges.
4. To convince, persuade, or influence someone to adopt or embrace some position. No amount of flattery is going to sway my father to your side on this issue. You're not going to sway me to your point of view, Tom. I've already made up my mind.
See also: sway
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sway someone to something

to convince someone to do something. I think I can sway her to join our side. We could not sway Ted to our position.
See also: sway
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • sway to (something)
  • sway toward (something)
  • lean toward
  • lean toward (someone or something)
  • lean toward doing
  • list to (some direction)
  • list to a direction
  • sway (from) side to side
  • sway from side to side
  • lean in
References in periodicals archive
The tuned mass damper is a device that is designed to sway to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts and earthquakes.
Video shows 2nd-largest movement of Taipei 101 damper in history during 6.0 quake
Rebecca So founded SWAY to take the guesswork out of deodorant.
SWAY rolls out new deodorant
Tell your story with Interactive content: Bring your Sway to life with interactive content.
Microsoft announces Sway, a digital storytelling app on Office 2016
As part of the spin-off, Starwood Property Trust expects to contribute USD 100m in cash to the anticipated unlevered balance sheet of SWAY to fund its growth and operations.
-Starwood Property Trust plans single-family residential business spinoff
Specificity of postural sway to the demands of a precision task.
Perceptual learning exercises: an adjunct to balance exercises for normal healthy geriatric population
One can almost feel oneself sway to the evocative rhyming verses in this gentle book.
The Rain Train
Instead, it consists of an initial sway in the posterior direction followed by an anterior sway to resolution.
A descriptive analysis of kinematic and electromyographic relationships of the core during forward stepping in beginning and expert dancers
In the clinic we often look at quiet stance in our patients, and consider sway characteristics, judging someone with increased sway to have poor balance.
Postural control during prolonged standing
Heaney exploits the ambiguity of sway to suggest how this influence was nonetheless tacitly resisted: the sway--or controlling power--exercised by the "absolute speaker" was tested, he implies, by the swaying--or fluctuating--nature of the response it received.
Seamus Heaney's sway
At the beginning of each lecture, the R&B sounds of the song "Acts of Faith, Surrender All" plays leading the body to sway to the soothing beat and the smooth sounds of the singers.
Iyanla Live!