swill

[ swil ]

/ swɪl /

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See synonyms for: swill / swilled / swilling on Thesaurus.com

noun

liquid or partly liquid food for animals, especially kitchen refuse given to swine; hogwash.

kitchen refuse in general; garbage.

any liquid mess, waste, or refuse; slop.

a deep draught of liquor.

contemptibly worthless utterance or writing; drivel.

verb (used without object)

to drink greedily or excessively.

verb (used with object)

to drink (something) greedily or to excess; guzzle.

to feed (animals) with swill: to swill hogs.

Chiefly British. to wash by rinsing or flooding with water.

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Origin of swill

before 900; Middle English swilen (v.), Old English swilian, swillan

OTHER WORDS FROM swill

swiller, nounun·swilled, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use swill in a sentence

Beer-swilling Britain and Spain now boast impressive varietals while America is challenging France with how much wine is consumed.
Beer Countries vs. Wine Countries|Clive Irving|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I suppose I was turned on by meeting men in a higher social league than my beer-swilling peer group.
Sugar Daddy Dating Sites: Helen Croydon on Her Guilty Fantasy|Helen Croydon|May 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
“Swilling the Planters With Bumbo: When Booze Bought Elections,” at Smithsonian.com.
The Independent Rundown, November 6|Matthew DeLuca|November 6, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We can always count on the wine-swilling hosts for some “mind in the gutter” action.
15 Hilarious Weinergate Reactions|The Daily Beast Video|June 7, 2011|DAILY BEAST

Her latest role is a small but powerful one, and does plenty to erase any memories of her cosmo-swilling, man-eating alter-ego.
The Yes List: A Sex and the City Star Strips Down|The Daily Beast|April 8, 2011|DAILY BEAST
He could have spent his nights thinking up new business tricks, instead of swilling whiskey.
The Day Time Stopped Moving|Bradner Buckner
Think of what every fathead princeling and beer-swilling ritter from here to Basel would say!
Joan of the Sword Hand|S(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett
He sees a huge house, all these bottles; us swilling them down; perhaps he's got a starving wife, or consumptive kids.
The Foundations (Fourth Series Plays)|John Galsworthy
He thinks he can use my place to fall back on when he can't go any longer, to fix him up to do some more swilling later on.
Twelve Men|Theodore Dreiser
He stood on top of a table and faced his crew of pirates who were sitting about swilling large cups of rocket juice.
On the Trail of the Space Pirates|Carey Rockwell

British Dictionary definitions for swill

swill

/ (swɪl) /

verb

to drink large quantities of (liquid, esp alcoholic drink); guzzle

(tr often foll by out) mainly British to drench or rinse in large amounts of water

(tr) to feed swill to (pigs, etc)

noun

wet feed, esp for pigs, consisting of kitchen waste, skimmed milk, etc

garbage or refuse, esp from a kitchen

a deep draught of drink, esp beer

any liquid mess

the act of swilling

Derived forms of swill

swiller, noun

Word Origin for swill

Old English swilian to wash out

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

swill

Origin of swill

OTHER WORDS FROM swill

Words related to swill

How to use swill in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for swill

Derived forms of swill

Word Origin for swill