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

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

swingle swingled swingling

The expense is sixteen pounds currency, or about twelve sterling for a first-rate article, with swingle bars, or, as they are always called here, "whipple-trees," to attach the traces to.

From Canada and the Canadians, Vol. 2 by Richard Henry Bonnycastle

The wheat having been strewn on the barn floor, the labourer held the handstaff in both hands, swung it over his head, and brought the swingle down horizontally on to the heads of ripe corn.

From A Cotswold Village by J. Arthur Gibbs

Oates fetched him when he had quieted down, and we found that nothing had been hurt or broken but the swingle tree.

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

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 Alice Morse Earle

The younger slaves had to "swingle it" with a wooden instrument, somewhat like a sword, about two feet long, and called a swingler.

From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Kentucky Narratives by Work Projects Administration

As she tugged the boy along, he swingled his head around to see me.

From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech

The strikes were swingled again, and from the refuse called swingle-tree hurds, coarse bagging could be spun and woven.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle

There was a tow which came out when it was swingled, called swingle tow.

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

Then it was scutched or swingled with a swingling block and knife, to take out any small particles of bark that might adhere.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle

Then it was scutched or swingled with a swingling block and knife, to take out any small particles of bark that might adhere.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle

Several times we saw women breaking and swingling this necessary article.

From Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams by Abigail Adams

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