swing-swang
(ˈswɪŋˌswæŋ)
Also swing swong.
[Reduplicated f. swing v.1 with change of vowel.]
A swinging to and fro; a (double or complete) oscillation; a reciprocating movement, occas. see-saw. Also fig. and attrib.
| c 1683 Hooke Posth. Wks. (1705) 472 Not that I pretend to discover any new Thing,..'tis, as trivial as the pendulous vibrating Motion, which, in Contempt, hath been call'd Swing Swangs. 1773 C. Dibdin Deserter i. ii. (1775) 10 The parish-bell may toll, Gra'mercy on my soul! Ding dong! Swing swong! 1829 R. L. Sheil in New Monthly Mag. Aug. 98 In a beautiful walk of trees, which ran down from the rear of the building through the play-ground, I saw several French boys playing at swing-swang. 1829 [H. Best] Pers. & Lit. Mem. 174 A friend of mine at Oxford called it the swing-swang style. 1887 Max Müller in Fortn. Rev. May 704 Is, then, our knowledge nothing but a perpetual swing-swang? 1910 G. Chrystal Seiches, etc. Lake Surfaces i. 29 The swing-swang of a clock-pendulum. |