▪ I. swivet dial. (chiefly U.S.).
(ˈswɪvɪt)
Also swivvet, swi(v)vit.
[Origin unknown.]
A state of agitation; a fluster or panic. Also, a hurry. Freq. in phr. in a swivet.
| 1892 Dialect Notes I. 232 Swivet (swivit),..‘Don't be in such a swivet.’ a 1904 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1904) V. 893/2 What a swivit ee's in. 1913 H. Kephart Our Southern Highlanders xiii. 294 When a man is..in a hurry, he is in a swivvet. 1917 Dialect Notes IV. 418 [N. Carolina] Swivvit, n., hurry. ‘He's always in a swivvit.’ Also La. 1933 I. S. Cobb Murder Day by Day xvi. 209 And Hilda, so Verity said, was in quite a swivit over the prospect of being interviewed again. 1955 N.Y. Sunday News 27 Mar. 100/1 She does not get in ‘swivets’ or ‘tizzies’, either, and she does not often sulk. 1962 M. Carleton Dread Sunset (1963) v. 81 ‘Don't get into a swivet,’ Ellen soothed. 1978 C. Macleod Rest You Merry xxiv. 168 Jemina was always in a swivet about something. |
▪ II. swivet
var. swevet Obs.