swill
Americannoun
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liquid or partly liquid food for animals, especially kitchen refuse given to swine; hogwash.
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kitchen refuse in general; garbage.
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any liquid mess, waste, or refuse; slop.
-
a deep draught of liquor.
-
contemptibly worthless utterance or writing; drivel.
verb (used without object)
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swills,
present (3rd person singular)
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swilled,
past participle, past
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swilling
present participle
verb (used with object)
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swills,
present (3rd person singular)
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swilled,
past participle, past
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swilling
present participle
-
to drink (something) greedily or to excess; guzzle.
-
to feed (animals) with swill.
to swill hogs.
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Chiefly British. to wash by rinsing or flooding with water.
verb
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to drink large quantities of (liquid, esp alcoholic drink); guzzle
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to drench or rinse in large amounts of water
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(tr) to feed swill to (pigs, etc)
noun
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wet feed, esp for pigs, consisting of kitchen waste, skimmed milk, etc
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garbage or refuse, esp from a kitchen
-
a deep draught of drink, esp beer
-
any liquid mess
-
the act of swilling
Usage
What does swill mean? Swill commonly refers to writing, talk, or some other kind of content that’s considered to be pointless, worthless, or to have no value. This figurative sense of the word is used to criticize such things and is based on the original, literal meaning of swill: liquid or partly liquid food for animals, especially kitchen waste fed to pigs. A close synonym for both of these senses of swill is hogwash. Swill is also commonly used to refer to a drink that’s considered disgusting or of poor quality, such as a cheap beer. More generally, it can refer to any garbage, especially liquid or semiliquid food waste. A close synonym for this sense of swill is slop. Swill can also be used as a verb meaning to drink excessively or too quickly—perhaps like a pig at a trough. A close synonym is guzzle. Example: I can’t believe they print this swill, and I can’t believe people pay to read it!
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swillsimple
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swillssimple
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have swilledperfect
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has swilledperfect
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am swillingprogressive
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are swillingprogressive
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is swillingprogressive
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have been swillingperfect progressive
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has been swillingperfect progressive
Past
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swilledsimple
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had swilledperfect
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was swillingprogressive
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were swillingprogressive
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had been swillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swill
First recorded before 900; Middle English verb swilen “to wash, swirl,” Old English swilian, swillan
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Both properties swill be solely in his name.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Go all the way back to meat packing or swill milk at the turn of the 20th century; go to the fight against big tobacco.
From Salon ● May 2, 2025
The choice should not be presented as Champagne or swill.
From New York Times ● Dec. 7, 2020
He was the ideal man to restore the club’s values, to swill out the toxicity.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 18, 2020
“Look at the swill he feeds me: black bananas they can’t sell in the market.”
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
Algal blooms happen when pollution, such as nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer, swills with warm water.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 9, 2019
He was taught to make swills in 1988 by John Barker, who has since died.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2014
Downstairs in the bowels of the auction house, Zachariah Onditi slurps, swills and spits rows of amber liquids in his laboratory with the practiced methodology of a wine master.
From Time ● Jan. 8, 2013
Photograph: Sarah Lee The wicked world of the internet, of course, swills with bile as well as blessedly free information.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 4, 2010
Not that Grim ever swills anything stronger than root beer.
From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick
Also at the fanzone, Kelly Wood, 39, from North Shields, was wearing a plastic poncho and said she had been swilled with beer when the goals went in.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2025
“I ate pain. I swilled tears. If I could take enough in, I’d have no space left to fit my own,” Phoebe says.
From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2018
The elites they enriched swilled champagne in the countless cabarets.
From Economist ● Jul. 12, 2018
Yet there it was, being swilled down like Red Bull by athletes who went on to win multiple medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics alone.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 5, 2017
He swilled the contents of the Pensieve as Harry had seen him swill them before, much as a gold prospector sifts for gold.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Our titular tabby is living a swashbuckler’s life, swilling leche, singing songs, saving towns, raking in the adoration and accolades, when he dies his eighth death, landing him on his ninth, and final, life.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2022
I read you were swilling shots of apple cider vinegar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2021
This was intentional vulgarity of the highest order: like swilling Cristal from a red Solo cup or low-riding in a Bentley.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 9, 2018
These clubs can all afford to indulge such whims, such is the money swilling around the Premier League.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2018
Kingfisher Meadows was all rain-stained walls, dripping bird tables, wet gnomes, swilling ponds, and shiny rockeries.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
