▪ I. swatter, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈswætə(r))
[Echoic. Cf. squatter; also early mod.Du. swadderen to slaver (of serpents), to splash in water (Kilian), dial. zwadderen in the latter sense, WFlem. zwadderen to speak slaveringly, G. dial. schwadern to disturb (water), splash, be agitated (of liquids), to tipple, also to prattle, babble; f. root swad- (: swat-) + frequent. suffix -er5.]
1. intr. To flutter and splash in water like ducks or geese; to splash water about or splash about in water; † fig. to wallow.
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. xxv, In that desert..Quhair dragouns, lessertis, askis, edders, swatterit, With mouthis gapand. a 1599 Rollock Lect. Passion etc. xxxviii. (1616) 371 Hee swatters and swimmes,..hee drownes not altogether. 1606 W. Birnie Kirk-Buriall (1833) 20 Tymes wherein the world lay..swattering in all sorte of superstition. 1637 Rutherford Let. to Lady Culross 15 June, Oh, to be swattering, & swimming over head & ears in Christ's love! ? a 1800 Twa Sisters xi. in Child Ballads (1882) I. 135 Aye she swattered [other vers. swittert] and aye she swam, Until she came to the mouth of the dam. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf xvii, Before he lap the window into the castle moat, and swattered through it like a wild duck. 1821 ― Pirate xxx, I swattered hard for my life, wi' the help of ane of the oars. 1871 G. Lawrence Anteros xx. (1872) 177 ‘Pray, gently, on the right’—cries the mild Master, in the act of swattering through a miry pool. |
† b. transf. To ‘flutter’. Obs. rare.
| 1676 Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. iii. (1848) 122 Out of the dreary vale of tears My soul hath swattered out. 1843 Whistle-binkie (1890) II. 43 The blude a swatert through my hert. |
2. To fritter away (as time, money).
| 1690 C. Nesse Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test. I. 78 Such as swatter away all their youth-time..in ways of both vanity and villany. 1790 Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Swatter, to scatter or waste. He swattered away all his money. North. 1905 19th Cent. Sept. 404 Proof that..it [sc. the poor rate] does not go to the poor, but is just ‘swattered away’. |
▪ II. swatter, n.
(ˈswɒtə(r))
[f. swat v.1 + -er1.]
An instrument for swatting flies. Also occasionally, one who swats flies (with a swatter).
| 1917 [see fly-swatter s.v. fly n.1 11]. 1923 Dundee Tel. 21 July 3/3 We have tried fly-papers, swatters, formaline solution, and nets. 1926 Glasgow Herald 4 Oct. 8 Poultry food is made from the Mexican bluebottle, professional ‘swatters’ making a good living by catching them. 1947 J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus i. 8 The death of a fly by swatter, or slowly smothered in the goo of fly paper. 1967 O. Wynd Walk Softly, Men Praying iii. 35 The Principal turned back to pick up a swatter on his desk, then lashed out. |