swine
(swaɪn)
Pl. swine. Forms: sing. and pl. 1–4 swin, 1–6 swyn, 4–5 suyn, 4–7 swyne, (4 suine, swiyn, squine, Ayenb. zuyn, 4–5 squyne, 5 swyyn, swyyne, sweyne, sqwyne, 6 suyne, swyin, swyen, 7 sweyn, shwine), 5– swine. pl. in -s. 5 swynes, 6, 8–9 swines.
[Common Teutonic: OE. sw{iacu}n str. n. = OFris., OS., MLG. swîn, MDu. swijn, (NFris. swinn, EFris. swin, WFris. swyn, LG. swien, Du. zwijn), OHG., MHG. swîn, (G. schwein), ON. sv{iacu}n, (Sw. Da. svin), Goth. swein:—OTeut. *swīnom, neut. of adj. formation with suffix -īno- (cf. L. suīnus, OSl. svinъ swinish, and see -ine suffix1) on the root of L. sūs, Gr. ὗς, and sow n.1
The orig. use may have been either generic or restricted to the young of the swine; for the latter cf. Goth. gaitein, OHG. geiȥȥîn young goat, kid, cogn. w. OE. gǽten of goats, L. hædīnus of kids:—Indo-eur. *ghaidīno-, f. ghaid- goat.]
1. a. An animal of the genus Sus or family Suidæ, comprising bristle-bearing non-ruminant hoofed mammals, of which the full-grown male is called a boar, the full-grown female a sow; esp. the common species Sus scrofa, domesticated from early times by Gentile nations for its flesh, and regarded as a type of greediness and uncleanness. (Now only literary, dialectal, or as a generic term in zoology, etc., being superseded in common use by pig or hog: see these words.)
| (a) sing. c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) S 700 Suis, swin. a 1000 Riddles xli. [xl.] 105 (Gr.) Mara ic eom & fættra, þonne amæsted swin. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1085, Ne an cu ne an swin næs belyfon. a 1200 Moral Ode 143 in O.E. Hom. I. 169 Swines brede is swiðe swete, swa is of wilde dore. c 1205 Lay. 468 Al swa þat wilde swin {thbar} wroteð ȝeond þan grouen. a 1225 Ancr. R. 128 Ase swin ipund ine sti uorte uetten. a 1300 Cursor M. 26751 (Cott.) Þai sal yow vp on balkes lift Als suine [Fairf. squine] þat ar to salting tift. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12342 By a mykel fir he sat, Rostyng a swyn gret & fat. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1398 Sche brouȝt fram the kychene A scheld of a wylde swynne. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. i. 47 To offre vp swynes flesh and other vnclene beastes. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. i. 34 Oh monstrous beast, how like a swine he lyes. 1634 Milton Comus 53 Circe..Whose charmed Cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling Swine. 1682 Shadwell Lanc. Witches ii, Coursing had gotten me a woundy stomach, and I eat like a Swine. 1780 Cowper Love of World Reproved 3 There is a part in ev'ry swine No friend or follower of mine May taste. 1799 S. Freeman Town Off. 58 He found a swine going at large in the town. |
| (b) pl. c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxvii. §4 He bið anlicost fettum swinun þe syle willað licgan on fulum solum. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 37 Ðet oref þe þis dear waneð beð shep & reðeren & get & swin. a 1300 Cursor M. 4711 [Þai] soght þam rotes, als þe suine. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxix. (Placidas) 319 He..al his bestiale sleu in hy,..assis, mulis, schepe & swyne. 1421 Cov. Leet Bk. 27 We commaund þat no man haue no Swyne goyng in the hyȝe streit. c 1452 Termes of Venery in J. Hodgkin Proper Terms 56/2 Sundyr of wylde Swyne, Dryfte of Tame Swyne. 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 113 There is grountynge of pigges and swyne With lowynge of oxen and kye. 1562 Leigh Surv. (1577) F iv b, Neither maie Geese or Swine haue common, but by the lordes sufferaunce. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 630 Thee and thy Legions, yelling they shall flye, And beg to hide them in a herd of Swine. 1796 W. H. Marshall Rural Econ. W. Eng. II. 222 Of Swine, Somersetshire appears still to persevere in the old white breed. 1846 Youatt Pig 24 Swine are the most prolific of all domesticated animals. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. iv. 296 The rooting swine Beneath the hedge-row oak-trees grunt and whine. |
| β 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour G j, His Swyneherd, he that kept his swynes. 1551 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) II. ii. v. 285 Beeves, muttons, veals, swines. 1738 [G. Smith] Cur. Relat. II. 421 When Swines continue longer than ordinary in the Mire. 1759 Brown Compl. Farmer 41 Young shoots, which are swines of about three quarters of a year old. 1850 H. Melville White Jacket I. xv. 93 Some of you chaps haven't no more manners than so many swines! |
b. In proverbial and allusive expressions, and in
fig. context.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. vii. 6 Ne ᵹe ne wurpen eowre meregrotu toforan eo wrum swynon. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 135 Ne sculen ȝe nawiht ȝimstones leggen swinen to mete. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 3680 Þou sest Mahoun ne Apolin Be nouȝt worþ þe brestel of a swin. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 647 And stolen were hise lettres pryuely Out of his box whil he sleep as a swyn. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 360 The servantz lich to drunke Swyn Begunne forto route faste. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 342 b, A swyne to teache Minerua, was a prouerbe [etc.]. 1560 in Maitl. Club Misc. III. 210 That lecherous Swyne the Byschop of Rome (quhai hais rutet wp the Lordis wyneyard sa far as in him wes). 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 91 Fire enough for a Flint, Pearle enough for a Swine. 1590 Greenwood Collect. Sclaund. Art. G j, We sayd you shall finde it..a pyg of that Swyne. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 109 'Tis old, but true, Still Swine eats all the draugh. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. P. xxx. 42 (Laing MS.) Lat me nocht sleip in sleuth, In stinkand sty with sathanis sinfull suyne. 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 683 A certaine Sorbonist, then a popish bishop..a swine out of the same stie. 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 440 The tricks of old Circe deter us from Wine, Tho' we honour a Boar, we won't make ourselves Swine. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xix, He that does me not reason is a swine of Sussex, and I'll make him kneel to the pledge, if I should cut his hams, and smoke them for bacon. |
2. fig. Applied opprobriously to a sensual, degraded, or coarse person; also (in
mod. use) as a mere term of contempt or abuse.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 263 Mannis lawis hav distemperid kynde of men, and turned hem into swyn. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 687 Ye maisty Swyne ye ydel wrechhes. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. xi. (MS. Bodl. 263) 51/2 How that this swyn..This Thiestes, afftir Europa Lay bi his douhter callid Pellopia. 1531 Tindale Expos. 1 John ii. 13–17 (1537) 42 Lechery..maketh a man altogether a swyne. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. ii. 10 This foule Swine Is now euen in the Centry of this Isle. 1842 Browning Soliloquy Sp. Cloister ix, Gr-r-r—you swine! 1891 Farrar Darkness & Dawn xxxviii, I shall be butchered to amuse these swine. 1907 H. Wyndham Flare of Footlights xxxv, The swine might have had the decency to have made up his alleged mind a bit sooner. |
b. Of a thing:
= pig n.1 1 c.
slang.| 1933 Dylan Thomas Let. Oct. (1966) 31 This method of letter writing..is very satisfying, but it's a swine in some ways. 1938 N. Marsh Artists in Crime iii. 38 ‘It's a swine of a pose, Miss Troy.’ ‘Well, stick it a bit longer.’ 1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds ii. 41 The Inspector groaned. ‘Could be heroin. That's a swine.’ 1976 H. MacInnes Death Reel iii. 19 This car's..a swine to drive at slow speeds. |
3. = swine-fish: see 5.
| 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scot. xv. (1855) 143 The ‘wolf-fish’, here ‘swine’, (anarhichas lupus of Linnæus). |
4. Obvious Combinations:
attrib., as
swine-bristle,
swine-fat,
swine-flesh,
† swine-greun [
groin n.2, snout],
swine-leather [
cf. G.
schwein(s)leder],
swine-market,
† swine-pork,
swine-trough, etc.;
adj. = swinish, as in
swine enjoyment,
swine security; objective, etc., as
swine-buyer,
swine-catcher,
swine-dealer,
swine-eater,
swine-keeper,
swine-keeping;
swine-eating adj.;
swine-like adj. and
adv.; parasynthetic (similative), as
swine-faced,
swine-headed,
swine-mouthed,
swine-snouted adjs.;
occas. with
swine's, as
† swine's-faced.
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 396 Þe harys on his browis war lyke *swyne-brustyls. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. i, Working on tanned hides, amid pincers, paste-horns, rosin, swine-bristles, and a nameless flood of rubbish. |
| 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4318/4 Richard Wells, of Ingoldsby in Lincolnshire, *Swinebuyer. |
| 1835 App. Munic. Corpor. Rep. iv. 2652 (Congleton) The *swine-catcher, levying 1s. upon each vagrant pig. |
| c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta ii. i, These *swine-eating Christians. |
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. v. 14 Wit..lifts our *swine-enjoyments from the mire. |
| 1595 Enq. Tripe-wife (1881) 150 The pudding house, Where *swine facde beautie onely sate in pride. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. 1905 III. 134 Two or three sturdie Plow-men (such as his swines fac't bluecoate was). 1597 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. i. 281 What an unmanerlie microcosme was this swine-faced clowne. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 468 Her odalisk lips..smeared with salve of *swinefat. |
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (Bodl. MS.), *Swyne flesche and schepe flesche is better rosted þan sode. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ix. 36 Þe Sarzenes also bringes furth na grysez, ne þai ete swyne flessch. 1884 J. Tait Mind in Matter 189 The Jews..prohibited from using swine-flesh. |
| 1691 Ray N.C. Words 138 *Swine-greun, a Swines snout. |
| 1710 Sibbald Hist. Fife 53 *Swine-headed and mouth'd and backed. 1922 Swineheaded [see dog n.1 19 c]. |
| 1508 Dunbar Flyting 130 Sueir swappit swanky, *swynekeper ay for swaittis. |
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 38 A hundred and fiftie totter'd Prodigalls, lately come from *Swine-keeping. |
| 1409 in Beverley MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1900) 100 Calf-lethyr, *swyn-lether. |
| 1575–85 Abp. Sandys Serm. 156 Let vs not *swinelike returne to wallowe in that slime againe. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.) 106 Olde drunkards thinke they prolong their dayes, by their swinelike diet. 1624 Quarles Job xix, In Pleasure's sincke, he takes a swinelike Pleasure. 1888 Pall Mall G. 26 May 11/1 Creatures more swine-like than human. |
| 1467–8 Rolls of Parlt. V. 603/2 A Strete called *Swynemarket. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 441 Rumford, the glory whereof dependeth on a swine mercat. |
| 1456 Sir G. Hay Gov. Princes Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 157 Sum man luxurious as a *swyne pork, and sum chaste as a turtur dowe. |
| 1633 Ford Broken H. iii. ii, To one that franks his lust In *swine-security of bestial incest. |
| 1887 Morris Odyssey x. 239 And *swine-shape they had, and the voice..of the boar. |
| 1840 Longfellow Sp. Student i. iv, I tell you this is nothing but Vino Tinto of La Mancha, with a tang of the *swine-skin. |
| 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. 1904 I. 169 Hee will..sonnet a whole quire of paper in praise of Lady *Swin-snout, his yeolow-fac'd Mistres. 1900 W. Archer tr. Ibsen's When we dead Awaken i. 14 Lop-eared, low-browed dog-skulls, and fatted swine-snouts. |
| 1602 Breton Wonders worth Hearing Wks. (Grosart) II. 8/1 Squinte eyed, *Swine snouted, wry bodyed, and splay footed. |
| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 124 Let him resorte to M. Heskins' *swyne-trough. 1616 Deacon Tobacco Tortured 57 The Swil bols swine-troffe. 1619 in Ferguson & Nanson Munic. Rec. Carlisle (1887) 278 Keping of swine troughes in the hye streyt. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate ii, They come, with the prodigal son, to the husks and the swine-trough. |
| 1559 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 135 One *swyne tubbe. |
5. a. Special Combinations (also with
swine's):
swine-back, (
a) a convex or arched back like that of a swine (
= hogback 1); (
b) in
Coal-mining = hogback 2 b,
horse-back 4;
swine-backed (
-bækt)
a., having a back like that of a swine;
spec. in
Archery, having a convexly curved outline (
opp. to
saddle-backed);
swine-badger = hog-badger (
hog n.1 13 c);
swine-chopped a., of a hound: having the lower jaw projecting forward of the upper one; so
swine-chop, a malformation of this kind;
swine-crew (
crue),
-cruive dial. [
crew n.,
cruive], a pigsty;
† swine-drunk a. [
cf. ON. sv{iacu}ndrukkinn], excessively drunk, beastly drunk; so
† swine drunkenness;
swine erysipelas, an infectious, sometimes fatal, disease of pigs, caused by the bacterium
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiæ, and characterized by fever, reddish spots on the skin, and general debility;
swine-eyes, eyes like those of a swine, which cannot be directed upwards;
swine fever, a name for two infectious diseases of swine (produced by different bacteria), distinctively called
hog-cholera, chiefly affecting the intestines, and
swine-plague, chiefly affecting the lungs (see below);
swine-fish, the wolf-fish,
Anarrhichas lupus, so called from the movement of its snout;
swine flu = swine influenza below;
† swine-garth, an enclosure for swine, a pigsty;
swine-girl, a girl who tends swine;
swine-grease (see
swine's grease below);
swine-hound slang rare,
tr. G.
schweinehund schweinehund (
quot. in
Mil. context);
swine influenza, an infectious virus disease of pigs,
esp. young ones, characterized by fever, coughing, and difficulty in breathing; also, influenza in man caused by the same (or a closely related) virus;
swine('s)-head, a swinish or self-indulgent person;
† swine-hog = hog n.1 1;
† swine-house [
cf. ON. sv{iacu}nah{uacu}s], a building in which swine are kept; hence
† swine-housegarth, an enclosed piece of ground containing such a building;
swine-hulk,
-hull dial. [
hulk n.1,
hull n.1 4 b], a pigsty;
† swine-louse, a woodlouse, hog-louse, or sow-bug;
swine-meat dial., food for swine, hog-wash;
swine-oat local (see
quot.);
swine('s)-penny local (see
quots.);
swine-plague, an infectious disease of swine, resembling but distinct from hog-cholera (see
swine fever above);
swine's back, local name for a narrow hill-ridge (
cf. hogback 2 a);
† swine-seam = swine's-grease;
† swine's evil = scrofula;
swine's grease (
occas. swine-grease) now
dial., the fat of a swine, lard;
swine-shott,
† -shoute dial. [
shoat2], a young pig;
swine-skeel dial., a tub for hog-wash;
† swine-sought = swine-pox 2;
† swine's-pike Mil. = swine's feather;
† swine's pudding = hog's pudding;
† swine's-stead, a building in which swine are kept;
swine vesicular disease, an infectious virus disease of pigs (similar to foot-and-mouth disease) characterized by mild fever and blisters round the mouth and feet;
† swine-wroting, a place in which swine root. (See also
swine's feather.)
| 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 976/4 A..bay Nag, with a Blaze down his Face, a *Swine-back. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Swine-back (S.W.). See Horses. Ibid., Horses or Horsebacks, natural channels cut, or washed away by water, in a coal seam, and filled up with shale and sandstone. Sometimes a bank or ridge of foreign matter in a coal seam. |
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 133 The *swyne backed fashion, maketh the shaft deader. 1710 [see swine-headed in 4]. 1890 Doyle White Company xxxiv, It has been my wont to choose a saddle-backed feather for a dead shaft, and a swine-backed for a smooth flier. |
| 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. I. 66 Naturalists once distinguished the badger, by the names of the *swine-badger, and the dog-badger; from the supposed resemblance of their heads to those animals. |
| 1962 Times 9 June 11/4, I have seen..puppy show prizes awarded to young hounds with *swine-chop. |
| 1930 Kipling Thy Servant a Dog 20 Moore-man lifted Ravager's head and opened his mouth... ‘Look, m'lord. He's *swine-chopped.’ 1965 D. Moore Bk. Foxhound ii. 29 The forehead and nose merge invisibly, giving always a rather stupid expression, and sometimes accompanying a swine-chopped mouth. |
| 1669–81 *Swine-crue [see crew n. 1]. |
| 1501 Extr. Aberd. Regr. (1844) I. 70 That al the tovn be devoyen of *swn croffis. c 1575 [see cruive 2]. 1616 Reg. Privy Council Scotl. X. 559 Hiddin in swyne crooves and middingis. |
| 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. 1904 I. 207 The third [stage] is *Swine drunke, heauy, lumpish, and sleepie, and cries for a little more drinke. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. iii. 286 Drunkennesse is his best vertue, for he will be swine⁓drunke. |
| 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 124 Of all other most odious is *swine drunkennesse, wherewith both the body & soule is deformed. |
| 1898 M. M. Hayes tr. Friedberger & Fröhner's Vet. Pathol. 72 *Swine erysipelas (or swine measles)..is a specific septicæmia produced by a minute bacillus. 1922 A. T. Kinsley Swine Practice xii. 338 Swine erysipelas is an infective disease of swine characterized by a high temperature, cerebral disturbances and discoloration of the skin. 1970 W. H. Parker Health & Dis. in Farm Animals x. 141 A disease which can easily be confused with swine fever is swine erysipelas. |
| 1872 Jefferies Toilers of the Field (1892) 323 Curses on our insular *swine-eyes that could not see it. |
| 1898 Daily News 15 Sept. 3/2 Provided..that the swine are not in a *swine-fever infected place. |
| 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 289 The Sea Wolf, Sea Cat, or *Swine-fish. |
| 1921 Wallace's Farmer 25 Feb. 371/1 So-called ‘*swine flu’, a name which, while it became quite popular thru its association with the human disease, is nevertheless a misnomer, is primarily a bronchitis. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 21 Aug. 2/2 The swine-flu insurance bill was signed by President Ford, clearing the way for mass inoculations in about six weeks. 1981 Sci. Amer. Oct. 46/2 Epidemiologists determined..that recipients of the swine-flu vaccine were developing Guillain-Barré syndrome at a rate several times the usual one. |
| 1459–60 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 88 Pro mundacione de le *Swynegarth. |
| 1886 C'tess E. Martinengo-Cesaresco Ess. Study Folk-Songs 199 The *swine girl went up to the mountain top and sang and sang. |
| c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 341 He seyde, thou Iohn, thou *swynesheed awak. 1819 Keats On C. A. Brown ii, He 'sdeigned the swine-head at the wassail-bowl. |
| 1548 Durham Wills (Surtees) I. 12, ij *swyn houggs x s. 1601 in W. Jackson Cumbld. & Westmoreld. Papers (1892) I. 155 Item a swyne hogge xii s. |
| 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 245 ‘Sulky, eh, my *swine-hound!’ said the officer. ‘But I think we can improve those manners.’ |
| 1576 E. Worsely Surv. Mannor Felsted, Essex 150 (MS.) To repaire and maintaine..the lord's hoggs-cote or *swinehouse. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 168 As many swine-houses replete with swine. |
| 1466–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 91 Pro operacione et emendacione pavimenti..in le *swynhousgarth. |
| 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr. Wülcker 626/1 Ara, stye, or a *swyne holke. |
| 1566 in Leader Rec. Burgery Sheffield (1897) 15 Hughe Storey for a smythye and a *swyne hoowle iij s. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 47 A Swinhull or Swine-crue, a Hogs-stye. 1807 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball. 145 To the sweyne-hull hie an' swat thee. |
| 1922 Jrnl. Amer. Vet. Med. Assoc. LXI. 178 We must be able to differentiate between hog cholera, necrotic enteritis,..broncho⁓pneumonia or *swine influenza, and many others. 1935 Lancet 11 May 1123/2 It seems to me..exceedingly probable that the virus of swine influenza is really the virus of the great [influenza] pandemic of 1918 adapted to the pig and persisting in that species ever since. 1969 C. W. Schwabe Vet. Med. & Human Health (ed. 2) vii. 216/2 Swine influenza was not known before the human influenza pandemic of 1918. 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Mar. 1/1 Ontario residents probably will be vaccinated against a deadly swine influenza virus, Alan Backley, Ontario's deputy health minister, said yesterday. |
| 1585 Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1675) 50 Little worms with many feet (of some called *Swine-lice). |
| 1583 Durham Wills (Surtees) II. 78, j other tubbe, for *swine meat 12 d. |
| 1819 Rees Cycl. XXXIV, *Swine-Oat,..a particular kind of oat, which is cultivated for the use of pigs..in some parts of Cornwall..the naked oat, or avena nuda. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 550 The Roman Emperours coine: which because swine many times rooting into the ground turne up with their snouts, the country people [at Littleborough] call *Swines-penies. 1723 W. Stukeley in Mem. (Surtees) III. 149 Many coyns found in one field towards that bridg [at Littleborough]. They call 'em Swine⁓pennys. |
| 1891 Billings Med. Dict. *Swine plague.., an acute, epidemic, contagious, and usually fatal disease of swine, with..rapid and labored respiration, and sometimes diarrhœa. |
| 1826 W. A. Miles Deverel Barrow 15 On its ridge [sc. a range of chalk], or to use a more common term, on the *swine's back, is a cluster of tumuli. |
| 1562–3 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. XI. 248 Item, for *swyne same.. iij li. iiij s. |
| 1528 Paynell Salernes Regim. R j, By *swynes yuell is vnderstande inflasion vnder the chynne about the throte. 1584 Cogan Haven Health cx. (1636) 111 A plaster made of figges..are good for the swines evill. |
| a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 11 Ane emplastre of maluez & *swynes grese. 1463–4 Compota Domest. (Abbotsf. 1836) 45, xij petrarum de Swynegrece. 1530 Palsgr. 278/2 Swynes grease, sayn de pourceau; gresse de porc. 1600 Surflet Country Farm ii. xlviii. 307 This roote roasted and stamped with olde swines grease, and applyed to the cornes of the feet. |
| 1581 Durham Wills (Surtees) II. 35, v *swyne shoates. 1901 Trotter Galloway Gossip 332 (E.D.D.) Stots, an hoggs, an swine-shotts. |
| 1559 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 135 One *swyne skele. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 375/1 Þe *Swynsoghte, porrigo. |
| 1638 Ward Animadv. Warre i. cclxxxi. 393 (heading) The Description of an Instrument, invented by King Henry the fifth, at the Battell of Agincourt, and since used by the King of Sweden, and by him called a *Swines-Pike. 1639 Ibid. ii. 90 These Shot ought to have each man his Swines-Pike at his girdle, to stick down against the Horse. |
| 1647 Trapp Comm. Mark vii. 3 Sometimes they wear a sausage or a *swines-pudding in place of a silver or gold chain. |
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 645/1 A delighte to keepe his sayde howse neate and cleanlye, which nowe being..rather *swynes-steades then howses, is the chiefest cause of his soe beastly manner of life. |
| 1972 Guardian 16 Dec. 1/8 The outbreaks of suspected foot-and-mouth disease in the Midlands have turned out to be a rare virus which affects only pigs. Its new name, invented by the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday, is *swine vesicular disease. 1981 Vet. Rec. 30 May 468/3 The relative decline in the number of cases of swine vesicular disease this year suggests that the campaign against the disease is achieving worthwhile results. |
| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 798/30 Hic scrobs, a *swynwrotyng. |
b. In names of plants, usually with
swine's (
cf. hog n.1 13 d,
pig n.1 14 b,
sow n.1 8 b):
swine-arnot Sc., the marsh betony,
Stachys palustris;
swine-arnuts Sc., tall oat-grass,
Avena elatior;
swine('s) fennel,
finkle,
Peucedanum officinale, also called
hog's fennel and
sow-fennel (
sow n.1 8 b);
swine's snout (see
quot. 1863);
swine's succory (see
succory 2);
swine('s) thistle dial. = sow-thistle 1. (See also
swine's cress,
swine's grass.)
| 1812 Souter Agric. Surv. Banffs. App. 38 If it [sc. the land] be pestered with quicken, *swine-arnot or other such spreading roots. |
| 1777 Lightfoot Flora Scot. (1789) I. 105 Avena elatior..Tall Oat-Grass. Anglis. *Swines Ar-Nuts, or Earth-Nuts. Scotis. |
| c 1400 MS. Laud 553 lf. 11 Feniculus porcinus is an herbe þ{supt} me clepitth *swynesfenel or wormeseed. 1529 Grete Herball cccxxx. S v b/1 Peucedane is an herbe or wode called dogfenell or swynefenel. |
| 1842 Browning Soliloquy Sp. Cloister ii, What's the Latin name for ‘parsley’? What's the Greek name for *Swine's Snout? 1863 Prior Pop. Names Brit. Plants 222 Swine's snout, L. rostrum porcinum, from the form of the receptacle, the dandelion. |
| a 1500 Gl. Harl. 3388 in Sax. Leechd. III. 346/2 *Swines thistell, sonchus oleraceus. 1796 Nemnich Polygl.-Lex., Swine thistle, the sow-thistle. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 104 s.v. Burr-thristles, There are five kinds of thistles common in Scotland—the burr or horse thristle; the corn thristle; the moss thristle; the swine thristle; and the Scotch thristle. |