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.
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a deep draught of liquor.
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contemptibly worthless utterance or writing; drivel.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to drink (something) greedily or to excess; guzzle.
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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
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a deep draught of drink, esp beer
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any liquid mess
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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:
By the end of the movie Swayze’s "cooler" has stopped a JCPenney department store from ruining the town’s all-American tanginess, or whatever, and heads off to spruce up some other fetid swill hole.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2024
Mr. Bortolomiol believes Prosecco has become “a generic name” for any swill with bubbles and was no longer worth defending — from Prosek or anyone else.
From New York Times ● Oct. 1, 2021
That this incendiary swill is so well-received by his audience — if not by skittish or principled advertisers — makes me wonder: Do 4 million Americans really approve?
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2020
He was the ideal man to restore the club’s values, to swill out the toxicity.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 18, 2020
Eventually I went off to swill out the bowls and hang the food bag.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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
Attorneys and detectives who swilled martinis at Forlini’s long before its young customers were born dropped by to hug staff members goodbye.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
At the western front he found a terrifying beach where fetid water swilled in craters so deep that his men stole lifejackets from cross-Channel ferries to save themselves from drowning.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 3, 2018
The elites they enriched swilled champagne in the countless cabarets.
From Economist ● Jul. 12, 2018
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
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 in his ninth, and final, life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
In its marketing, Patagonia Provisions regrettably echoes the fearmongering of the “clean wine” crowd who would have you believe you’ve been swilling poison all these years.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2021
A singer was dancing on the stage, and people swilling from paper cups clapped to the rhythm.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2016
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.
