▪ I. swilling, vbl. n.
(ˈswɪlɪŋ)
Forms: see swill v.; also 1 swiling, 5 swelyng, 6 swellyng; 6 swildyng, swyldyng; 7 Sc. (pl.) swillons.
[f. swill v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb swill; also concr.
1. Washing, etc. (see swill v. 1).
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 2 Clæsnunga & swiling wið hrum & ᵹillistrum to heafdes hælo. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 2375 With swilling thries and oones wrong, Therabout stoode she not long, She gate awey the spottes in hast. 1888 Times 31 Dec. 7/4 The recent swilling of the floor of Barrett's stable. |
2. Heavy or excessive drinking, tippling.
| c 1530 Jyl of Brentford's Test. (1871) 7 Come you nere, & take parte of our swyllyng. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 382 Who is giuen to excessiue swilling so much as hee? 1638 ‘R. Junius’ Drunkard's Char. 45 What so much as swilling blowes up the cheekes with wind, fills the nose and eyes with fier, loads the hands and legs with water? 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1725) I. 117 The cramming and swilling of ordinary Tradesmen at a City Feast. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. v. 68 The continued swilling of even the most innocent fluids will bring on heaviness of stomach. 1858 Lytton What will He do? iv. iv, All is noise and bustle, and eating and swilling. |
3. concr. (usually pl.) = swill n.2 1. ? Obs.
| a 1529 [implied in swyllynge tubbe: see 5]. 1537 Coverdale Expos. Ps. xxii. B vij b, These worldlye goodes are hys draff and swellynges, wherwith he fylleth the hogges belyes. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus D iij, A swete swillings, I would the swine had her. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. (1623) 123 Filling their troughes with Draffe and Swilling, let them fill their bellies. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 337 The Chaff and the Dust..are very good Swine's-meat, mixt either with Whey or Swillings. |
b. The feeding (of a hog) with swill.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 413, I bought a hog, and when it was swilled, the farmer commended very much the swilling of it. |
4. Dirty liquid such as that produced by the washing out of casks or other vessels; also, poor liquor.
| 1545 Bale Myst. Iniq. 40 And nothynge do ye at all but vomete fylthye swyllynges. a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 587 The same stroake..should much more wipe away your traditions as swaddes and swillings of mens brewing. 1637 J. Taylor (Water P.) Drinke & Welcome A 4, A heartlesse liquor much of the nature of Swillons in Scotland, or small Beere in England. 1891 Daily News 26 Dec. 3/5 The swillings from these barrels. 1899 H. Cobbe Luton Ch. 495 The coarse swillings of bad fermented liquor. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as † swilling-pan, † swilling-pot, † swilling-tub (= swill-tub).
| 1459–60 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 89, j patella vocata Stokton vel le Swelyngpan. 1485–6 Ibid. 98 Swyllyngpan. a 1529 Skelton El. Rummyng 173 Stryke the hogges with a clubbe, They haue dronke vp my swyllynge tubbe! a 1539 Cartular. Abb. de Rievalle (Surtees) 342 A swyldyng pott of brass. 1601 Strange Rep. Sixe Notorious Witches A iiij, He thrust his head into a swilling Tubbe full of Swines meate. 1897 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. LII. 32 After the plates are removed from the swilling tanks. Ibid., The wet plates from the swilling-troughs of the white pickling machine. |
▪ II. ˈswilling, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That swills or drinks greedily; addicted to excessive drinking. Also of a draught of liquor, Abundant, ‘deep’.
| 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vii. lxxv, Among the bows did swilling Bacchus ride. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 124 When at the fountains head..you take a swilling draught. a 1716 South Serm. (1727) VI. 347 Of so peculiar a Force is Temperance against the fiercest Assaults of the Devil, and so unfit a Match is a soaking, swilling Swine to encounter this roaring Lion. 1802 Colman Br. Grins, Elder Bro. xx, But there are swilling Wights, in London town, Term'd—Jolly dogs,—Choice Spirits. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, A boisterous..party of swilling varlets. |
▪ III. swilling
see suling.