swinge

¹ American  

[swinj] / swɪndʒ /

verb (used with object)

British Dialect.

swinged, swingeing

1. to thrash; punish.

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swinge ² American  

[swinj] / swɪndʒ /

verb (used with object)

swinged, swingeing

1. to singe.

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swinge British  

/ swɪndʒ /

verb

1. archaic (tr) to beat, flog, or punish

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Other Word Forms

• swinger noun

Etymology

Origin of swinge¹

1250–1300; Middle English swengen to shake, smite, Old English swengan, causative of swingan to swing, or denominative derivative of Old English sweng a blow

Origin of swinge²

First recorded in 1580–90; obscurely akin to singe

Example Sentences

"The Secretary promises me to swinge him," he wrote in 1711; "I must make that rogue an example for a warning to others."

From The Tatler, Volume 1, 1899 by Aitken, George A.

Alas, I know not whom to suspect, I wou'd I did; but if you cou'd discover him—I wou'd so swinge him— Sir Feeb.

From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume III by Summers, Montague

That is the neetive misure of the Oirish bards, an' is iminiutly adapted to rendher the Homeric swinge.

From The Lady of the Ice A Novel by De Mille, James

It hurled Dyckman against and along the big table, just as he put home one magnificent, majestic, mellifluous swinge with all his body in it.

From We Can't Have Everything by Hughes, Rupert

Sirrah, knave, I have a mind to swinge you!

From Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da Rimini by Moses, Montrose Jonas