swish-swash, n. (adv.)
(ˈswɪʃˌswɒʃ)
Also 6 swyshe swashe.
[Reduplicated f. swish with alternating vowel.]
1. An inferior or wishy-washy drink. Also attrib.
| 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. ii. (1870) 126 Swyshe swashe metheglyn I take for my fees. 1577 Harrison England iii. i. 96/2 in Holinshed, There is a kind of swish swash made also in Essex,..wyth Hony and water, which the countrey wiues putting some pepper & a little other spyce among, call meade. 1881 J. Sargisson Joe Scoap's Jurneh 49 It was sad swish-swash stuff, an nut hoaf boilt. 1884 S. Dowell Taxation England IV. 55 The small sour swish-swash of the poorer vintages of France. |
† 2. A violent or swaggering person. Also attrib. Cf. swashbuckler. Obs.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 92 Vp to the sky reatching, thee breetherne swish swash of ætna. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Ff iv b, Quiet thy rage, Imperious Swish-swash. |
B. adv. expressing alternation or repetition of a swishing movement.
| 1865 G. Macdonald Alec Forbes 29 And still the instrument of torture went swish-swash round his little thin legs. 1913 M. Roberts Salt of Sea xix. 461 The sea had a motion in it, up and down, swish-swash. |