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- ( swing ¹ ) + -el instrumental suffix ( -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

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 Bonnycastle, Richard Henry

Dey had a stick called a swingle stick, made kinder like a sword.

From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, North Carolina Narratives, Part 2 by Work Projects Administration

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 Scott, Robert Falcon

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

“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