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

Possum skin is jes lak shoat skin; Jes' you swinge an' scrope it down, Tek a good sha'p knife an' sco' it, Den you bake it good an' brown.

From The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar by Howells, William Dean

The young dogs, swinge them to the labour; Let wark an' hunger mak them sober!

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

Ye dry bisket rogue, I will so swinge you for this blasphemie— Have I found you out?

From The Little French Lawyer A Comedy by Beaumont, Francis

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

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

Well, sir, y'ave a perilous wit, God blesse me out of the swinge of it, but you had best looke to it betimes, for Earl Cassimere hath made great friends against you.

From A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 3 by Bullen, A. H. (Arthur Henry)