▪ I. swash, int. or adv. and n.1
(swɒʃ)
Also swosh.
[Imitative of the sound of splashing or agitated water, or of a resounding blow. Cf. swish.]
A. int. or adv. Expressive of the fall of a heavy body or blow: With a crash.
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 393 Haue in than at a dash, With swash myry annet swash. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 58 Pat fals thee turret, thee Greeks with crash swash yt heapeth. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia xv. II. 7 If a hadn't been too quick for her, it would have a' gone swash down i' t' litter. 1927 J. Masefield Midnight Folk 92 He swung Blackmalkin [sc. a cat] round his head and pitched him swosh into the mud. |
B. n. I. 1. a. Pig-wash; also, wet refuse or filth.
| 1528 Tindale Parable Wicked Mammon Wks. (1573) 65/1 His stomacke abhorreth longyng after slibbersause and swashe, at which a whole stomacke is readye to cast hys gorge. 1634 Meres Wits Commonw. ii. 50 Swine..refuse partriges and delicats, and doe greedily hunt after Acornes and other swash. 1847 Halliwell, Swash..(4) Refuse; hog-wash. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Swash, wet stuff. 1893 Times (weekly ed.) 10 Feb. 114 The well-filled troughs of swash and potatoes round which I have seen pigs crowd. |
† b. transf. Nonsense; worthless stuff. Cf. hog-wash b. slang. obs.
| 1895 W. C. Gore in Inlander Nov. 65 Swosh,..nonsense; inferior work. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey ii. v. 162 Anyway sentiment was swosh! Cut it out! |
2. A body of water moving forcibly or dashing against something.
An alleged sense ‘stream, puddle of water’, entered in Phillips's World of Words, ed. Kersey, 1706, is not otherwise authenticated.
| 1671 Skinner Etymol., Swash, a great Swash of water, magnus & cum magno impetu ruens aquarum Torrens. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands xviii. II. 5 Some ‘swash’ in the Goodwins. 1852 Hawthorne Blithedale Rom. xxvii, Up came a white swash to the surface of the river. It was the flow of a woman's garments. 1860 Wilts. Archæol. Mag. VI. 380 note, A man in answer to my question of how the rain seemed to fall, said ‘It came down in swashes’. |
3. Chiefly U.S. = swatch n.3
| 1670–1 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 46 It drains into salt Water-swashes. Ibid. 52, I sent the Boat for Water to a Swash on the East-side. 1775 Romans Florida App. 78 As the bank is bound with a reef here, you must pick your way through that, which you may, as there are several swashes, which though they are narrow, have no less than 11 or 12 feet thro'. 1788 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 453 Having got themselves near the swash, at the mouth of the Boristhenes. 1869 New Orleans Bee in Schele de Vere Americanisms (1872) 556 It is said they took refuge in the swash behind the house. |
4. A heavy blow, esp. of, or upon, some yielding substance; the sound of this.
| 1789 Davidson Seasons, Spring 32 Forthwith amain he [sc. the salmon] plunges on his prey, Wi' eager swash. 1853 Kane Grinnel Exp. xxvi. (1856) 211 The voices of the ice and the heavy swash of the overturned hummock-tables. 1865 G. Macdonald Alec Forbes 29 The cruel serpent of leather went at him, coiling round his legs with a sudden, hissing swash. 1866 Gregor Banffsh. Gloss., Swash, (1) a severe blow. (2) A severe dash. 1898 J. Paton Castlebraes ii. 49, I laid ma Heezel Rung, a second swash, athwart the safter pairts. |
5. a. The action of water dashing or washing against the side of a cliff, ship, etc. or of waves against each other; the sound accompanying this.
| 1847–54 Webster, Swash..2. Impulse of water flowing with violence. 1849 Cupples Green Hand ix, The lazy swash of the water round our fore-chains. 1849 W. S. Mayo Kaloolah ii. (1850) 21 The captain fancied that he heard the swash of the water against the sides of a ship. 1863 Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 279 The swash and swell of the passing steamers. 1883 G. H. Boughton in Harper's Mag. Feb. 393/1 We were steaming along splendidly now, sending up a fine wash and swash along the banks. 1892 H. Hutchinson Fairway Island 25 The swash of the sea at the cliff foot. |
b. Physical Geogr. The rush of sea water up the beach after the breaking of a wave.
| 1919 D. W. Johnson Shore Processes & Shoreline Development x. 514 Since there are a variety of marks left on the sand by wave action, and the present feature is peculiarly a product of the swash, I have given it the name of ‘swash mark’. 1934 Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXIII. 485 When the swash dies out the backwash of the wave returns directly down the steepest slope to the sea. 1976 P. D. Komar Beach Processes & Sedimentation ii. 14 The return flow of the swash collides with the incoming surf bores. |
6. A watery condition of land; ground under water.
| 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvi. xiv. IV. 478 Waters all out, ground in a swash with December rains. 1891 The Auk Jan. 65 Here [sc. Andros in the Bahamas] the ground is soft, and in wet weather almost entirely under water; hence the peculiar appropriateness of the local term swash. |
II. 7. A swaggerer; a swashbuckler; now Sc. an ostentatious person (cf. swash a.1, swashing ppl. a. 1).
| 1549 Chaloner Erasm. on Folly D iij b, Commenly thei that bringe any valiant feate to passe, are good blouddes, venturers, compaignions, swasshes. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 46 Every Duns will be a Carper, every Dick Swash a common Cutter. 1584 R. Wilson Three Ladies Lond. (1592) A 3, I will flaunt it and brave it after the lusty swash. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 117 The noddy Nash, whom euery seruing Swash With pot-iestes dash, and euery whipdog lash. 1637 I. Jones & Davenant Brit. Triumphans 17 With Courtly Knights, not roaring country swashes, Hath beene her breeding still. 1659 T. Pecke Parnassi Puerp. 16 Two Swashes did the fair Camilla court. 1693 Southerne Maid's last Prayer ii. ii, I remember your Dammee⁓boys, your Swashes, your Tuquoques. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. xviii, A great gormandizing swash. 1866 Gregor Banffsh. Gloss., Swash..(4) A vapouring dandy. |
8. Swagger; swashbuckling.
| 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. ***j, If nothing can the booted Souldiour tame..But Swash will still his trompery aduaunce. 1605 A. Warren Poor Man's Pass. E 3, I would elect, Flaunt, Cut, and Swash for mates, For choise Companions, pleasure, mirth, delight. 1822 Maginn in Blackw. Mag. XI. 370* The stamping, ramping, swaggering, staggering, leathering swash of an Irishman. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., What a swash he cuts! 1866 Gregor Banffsh. Gloss., Swash..(3) The act of walking with a haughty, silly air. |
III. 9. attrib.: (sense 5 b) swash mark, swash-slope, swash-zone; swash bank (see quot.); swash channel, swash-way, ‘a channel across a bank, or among shoals, as the noted instance between the Goodwin Sands’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., 1867); swash-plate Engin., a disc mounted obliquely on the end of a revolving shaft, which can impart to a rod in contact with the edge of the disc a reciprocating motion parallel to the axis of the shaft.
| 1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 25 The *swash bank, which, having only to sustain the broken tops of the waves, is but 2½ feet high and 2½ feet wide at top. |
| 1885 Century Mag. XXIX. 742 The Minnesota, taking the middle or *swash channel. |
| 1919 *Swash mark [see sense 5 b above]. 1982 Sci. Amer. Aug. 130/2 Seaward of a swash mark on some beaches one is likely to find smaller diamond-shaped markings left by the backwash. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. III. 2467/2 *Swash-plate. 1913 W. E. Dommett Motor Car Mech. 158 The plungers are driven by a swash-plate mechanism. 1977 Design Engin. July 92/1 (Advt.), To obtain precise control in many fields, e.g. valves, or engine throttle position, or a pump swashplate, you need a remote position actuator. |
| 1931 Geogr. Jrnl. LXXVIII. 134 They [sc. waves]..on nearing high-water mark were busily pushing forward shingle to the top of their *swash slope. |
| 1839 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 221/1 Forming track-paths across *swash-ways in Loch Dochfour. 1883 Chambers's Jrnl. 18 Aug. 525/2 Certain narrow fareways which seam the sands at low tide,..are called on the south side of the Roach ‘swatch’-ways, but beyond the Crouch ‘swash’-ways. |
| 1976 P. D. Komar Beach Processes & Sedimentation ii. 14 Schiffman..defines a transition zone between the surf and *swash zones. |
▪ II. swash, n.2, swesh Sc. Obs. exc. Hist.
Forms: 6 swasche, (suasche, squasche, swach(e, swass, sc(h)osche?), 6, 9 swash; 6 swesch(e, swech(e, (suech, suis, suishe, swische), 6, 9 swesch, swesh, 7 swy(s)che.
[Perh. orig. in full swasche, swesche, or swische ta(l)burne (see taborn n.), but the orig. meaning and source of swasche, etc. are unknown.]
A kind of drum. Also attrib. swash-head, a drum-head; swash-man = swasher1.
| 1533 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 159 For ane swasche talburne to the futmen xxs. 1541 Ibid. VII. 478 The twa Toddeis that playis upoun the Swische taburn. 1543–4 Ibid. VIII. 250 Thre playarris upon the swesche. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 20 With trumpet, schalme, drum, squasche & clarioun. 1562 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 343 Passing throw the toun with ane swech. 1571 Extr. Burgh Rec. Lanark (Burgh Rec. Soc.) 55 That thei nychtly wache with the balleis fra the strak of the secund strak of the suishe. 1574–5 Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876) I. 455 Item, to Thomas Downy for inputting of the schoscheheid v s. Item, for ane perchement skyn to Robert Muir to cover the scosche iij s. vj d. 1576 in Maitl. Club Misc. (1840) II. 343 For ane swasche to our moustiris iiijli. 1593 Extr. Aberd. Regr. (1848) II. 81 Andro Inglis, sweschman, commoun servand to the toun. 1598 in Pitcairn Crim. Trials II. 30 ‘Stryke þe swasch’ and ‘Ryng þe commoun bell’! 1625–6 Charters etc. Peebles (1872) 414 Item, gewine John Robeine for striking of the swyche, xij s. 1672 Burgh Rec. Peebles (1872) 336 At the stryking of the swysche. |
¶ Misused for: A trumpet. Also swash-trump.
This is the only meaning given by Jamieson, 1808, on the authority of quot. 1609; cf. also the following, where the Latin original would seem to warrant such a meaning:—
| 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. lxiv. (S.T.S.) 238 Horsmen with swasche and taberne [orig. cornicines tubicinesque in equis impositos]. |
| 1609 Skenf Reg. Maj., Stat. Gild 143 After they heare the striak of the swesch (or the sound of the trumpet). 1819 Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 47 Wi' swesch-trump in his hand. 1871 Waddell Ps. in Scottis xlvii. 5 God has gane up wi' a sugh; the Lord wi' the tout o' a swesch. |
▪ III. † swash, n.3 Obs.
(swɒʃ)
[Derived from or forming the radical of aswash adv. = aslant. Cf. swash a.2]
a. Turning, etc., A figure or ornament the lines or mouldings of which lie obliquely to the axis of the work. b. Printing. The flourished extension characteristic of swash letters (see swash a.2 2).
| 1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xiv. 241 You set it to that Slope you intend the Swash on your Work shall have. Ibid. Explan. Terms Ll 2 b, Swash. A Swash is a Figure whose Circumference is not Round, but Oval; and whose Moldings lye not at Right Angles, but Oblique to the Axis of the Work. 1683 Ibid., Printing xiii. ¶4 {scrQ}, whose Swashes come below the Foot-Line.., ought to have the..Sholder of tha{supt} Swash Sculped down straight. |
▪ IV. swash, a.1
[f. swash n.1]
† 1. = swashing ppl. a. 2. Obs.
| 1599 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Dial. (1623) 30 This wound hurts me not much, for it is giuen with the hand vpward, but beware of the swash blow [Spanish el rebés], for I will draw it with the hand downwards. |
2. † a. ? Swashbuckling, swaggering: = swashing ppl. a. 1. Obs. b. ‘Swell’, ‘swagger’, showy. dial.
| c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. ii. ii. (1881) 39 Old Simsons son..that wears his great gall gaskins o' the Swash-fashion, with 8 or 10 gold laces of a side. 1635 J. Gower Pyrgomachia A 3 b, Some others..Are of the rash-swash-fellowes band. 1713 S. Sewall Diary 5 Nov., I first see Col. Tho. Noyes in a swash Flaxen Wigg. 1866 Gregor Banffsh. Gloss., Swash, (1) gaudy; showy... (2) Of ostentatious manners. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Swash, showy; gaudy. |
▪ V. swash, a.2
(swɒʃ)
[app. swash n.3 used attrib.]
1. Turning, etc. Inclined obliquely to the axis of the work.
swash-work, work in which the cuttings or mouldings traced round a cylinder are inclined to the axis; also called pumped work. swash-engine, an apparatus for turning swash-work. swash-board, swash-plate, ‘a rotating, circular plate, inclined to the plane of its revolution so as to give a vertical reciprocation to the rod, whose foot rests thereupon, and which moves between lateral guides’ (Knight Dict. Mech., 1875); also called pumping-plate.
| 1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xiv. 241 To the Turning of Swash-Work you must have two such Puppets as the Fore⁓puppet described in §22. Ibid., Upon both the Flat sides of this Swash Board in a Diametrical Line is fastned up⁓right an Arch of a Quadrant made of a Steel Plate... The convex edges of these Quadrants are cut into Notches,..that according as you may have occasion to set the Swash-Board more or less a-slope, you may be accommodated with a Notch or Tooth to set it at. Ibid. 242 These Oval-Engines, Swash-Engines, and all other Engines. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 360/1 The Turning Engine [is] for the turning of Oval Work, Rose Work, and Swash Work. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3887/4 A Gold Watch in a Grav'd Case..; with a Moco Stone Swash. 1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 356 Turning is also of different kinds, as Circular Turning, Elliptic Turning, and Swash Turning. |
2. Printing. Applied to old-style capital letters having flourished strokes designed to fill up unsightly gaps between adjacent letters.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ¶4 Swash-Letters, especially {scrQ}. 1867 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., etc., Swash Letters..have been revived of late years with the reintroduced old-fashioned types. 1899 De Vinne Pract. Typogr. (1902) 271 note, An excellent form of old-style italic of bold face, with the swash letters and other features of quaintness. |
▪ VI. swash, a.3 dial.
[Cf. swashy.]
Soft; also, fuddled.
| 1711 Ramsay On Maggy Johnstoun vi, We did baith..pish and spew, and yesk and maunt, Right swash I true. 1728 Ramsay's Poems II. Gloss., Swash, squat, fuddled. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Swash, and Swashy, soft, like fruit too ripe. Derb. 1888 Sheffield Gloss. |
▪ VII. swash, v.
(swɒʃ)
[Echoic. Cf. swash n.1]
1. trans. To dash or cast violently.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 444/2 The Archbyshop of Yorke..swasht him down, meaning to thrust himselfe in betwixt the Legate, and the Archb. of Canterbury. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 19 This Queene wyld lightninges from clowds of Iuppiter hurling Downe swasht theyre nauy. 1710 Ruddiman Douglas' æneis Gloss. s.v. Squat, Scot. swash, Ang. squat is to cast against the ground. 1866 Gregor Banffsh. Gloss. |
2. intr. To dash or move violently about; also occas. refl.
| 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. cxxxi. 807/1 As a swyne when he hath once winded his meat, runnes on to swash himself in it [orig. se fourrer là]. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxxi. vii. 413 On all sides swords swashed and darts flew as thicke as haile. |
| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. ii, If..your House fell, have I not seen five neighbourly Helpers appear next day; and swashing to and fro,..complete it again before nightfall? 1837 ― Fr. Rev. ii. iv. vi, Your dusty Mill of Valmy..may furl its canvas, and cease swashing and circling. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Donkey 139 A jolting trot that set the oats swashing in the pocket of my coat. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Yankee at Crt. K. Arthur vii, The gusts of wind were flaring the torches and making the shadows swash about. |
3. To make a noise as of swords clashing or of a sword beating on a shield (cf. swashbuckler); to fence with swords; to bluster with or as with weapons; to lash out; hence, to swagger.
| 1556 [see swashing vbl. n. 1 and ppl. a. 1]. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Concrepo, Concrepare gladiis ad scuta, to swashe, or make a noyse with swoordes agaynst tergattes. 1593 Lodge Will. Longbeard C 3 b, He over⁓maistered [them] by his attendants, swashing out in the open streets uppon everie light occasion. 1593 Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (Mahl.) II. 265, I giue them right to sweare it out with wordes, I giue them might to swash it out with swordes. 1600 Breton Pasquil's Fooles Cap xl, Shee that..Ruffin-like, will sweare, and swash it out. 1611 Florio, Cortellare, to fence, to swash with swords, to swagger. 1629 Z. Boyd Last Battell 673 [They], in hight of stomacke, ruffling & swashing, did tread vpon God's turtles. |
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Swash, to affect valour; to vapour or swagger. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. vii. ii, Captains of horse and foot go swashing with ‘enormous white cockades’. 1850 ― Two-hundred & Fifty Y. Ago Ess. 1857 IV. 321 Bucklers went out..‘about the twentieth of Queen Elizabeth’; men do not now swash with them, or fight in that way. 1890 Pall Mall G. 1 July 2/2 When Mr. Caine joined Lord Randolph in swashing at the Government. 1893 Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Zita xxxv. III. 111 He will swash about with his toasting-fork as if 'twere a cutlass. |
4. trans. To dash or splash (water) about; to dash water upon, souse with water or liquid; (of water) to beat with a splash against.
| 1589 Fleming Virg. Georg. iv. 64 note, Gargarise, or swash in and about the mouth. 1656 [? J. Sergeant] tr. T. White's Peripat. Inst. 67 As it happens in liquids when they are swash'd up and down. 1721 Bailey, To Swash, to make fly about, as Water. 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch xix. 281 Having a bucket..I swashed down such showers on the top of the flames. 1836 W. Irving Astoria v. (1849) 61 For three hours and a half did they tug..at the oar, swashed occasionally by the surging waves of the open sea. 1862 G. H. Kingsley Sport & Trav. (1900) 375 Men swishing and swashing and brooming about. 1863 W. W. Story Roba di R. II. i. 1 The boards on which the meats are laid are swashed constantly with water. 1876 R. Bridges Growth of Love xxvii, What grisly beast of scaly chine That champ'd the ocean-wrack and swashed the brine. 1887 Pall Mall G. 28 Sept. 8/1 He added that the excursion boats also swashed the Thistle, damaging her to a certain extent. |
5. intr. Of water or of an object in water: To dash with a splashing sound; to splash about.
| 1836 W. Irving Astoria lviii. (1849) 477 The next wave threw their bodies back upon the deck, where they remained swashing backward and forward. 1843 Carlyle Misc., Dr. Francia (1857) IV. 269 You have all got linen bathing-garments, and can swash about with some decency. 1847 H. Melville Omoo x, The water fairly poured down in sheets..swashing about. 1876 Holland Sev. Oaks v. 65 Flocks of ducks..swashed down with a fluttering ricochet into the water. 1892 H. Hutchinson Fairway Island 25 The sea at the cliff foot—swashing ever louder and louder. |