swingle

¹ American  

[swing-guhl] / ˈswɪŋ gəl /

noun

1. a swipple.

2. a wooden instrument shaped like a large knife, for beating flax or hemp and scraping from it the woody or coarse portions.

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verb (used with object)

swingled, swingling

1. to clean (flax or hemp) by beating and scraping with a swingle.

swingle ² American  

[swing-guhl] / ˈswɪŋ gəl /

noun

Slang.

1. a single person who is highly active socially and sexually; an unmarried person who swings.

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swingle British  

/ ˈswɪŋɡəl /

noun

1. a flat-bladed wooden instrument used for beating and scraping flax or hemp to remove coarse matter from it

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verb

1. (tr) to use a swingle on

Other Word Forms

• unswingled adjective

Etymology

Origin of swingle¹

1275–1325; Middle English swingel, Old English swingell rod (cognate with Middle Dutch swinghel ), equivalent to swing- ( see swing ¹) + -el instrumental suffix ( see -le)

Origin of swingle²

1965–70, blend of swing ¹ (in the slang sense “to engage freely and often in sexual activity”) and single

Example Sentences

After that he would swingle it over a swingling-board, with a long knife; then he made it into hands of flax.

From The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 1, January, 1884 by Various

This was the song:—  'Swing, swang, swingle, swuff,   Flicker, flacker, fling, fluff!

From Cross Purposes and The Shadows by MacDonald, George

They know perfectly well that the swingle trees and traces are hanging about their hocks and hate it.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Scott, Robert Falcon

“Hallo! some one’s turned up,” said Armitage, indicating the white tent of a Cape cart, which stood outspanned before the stable-door, with the harness lying beside the swingle bars.

From The Fire Trumpet A Romance of the Cape Frontier by Mitford, Bertram

Both parts, the staff or handle, and the swingle or swiple, were carefully shaped from well-chosen wood, to be joined together later by an eelskin or leather strap.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Earle, Alice Morse