swink
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of swink
before 900; Middle English swinken, Old English swincan; akin to swing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I 'lowed to swink up my belly to fit my rations.'
From Time Magazine Archive
Ess wasn’t near the swink bushes, or taking cover from the rain in the trees where the hens liked to sleep.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
Ben passed out bags and baskets, and then they marched off in a line—up past the dunes and the cabins, along the sandy path, past the swink bushes, into the prairie and along the creek.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
Her face was already smeared with swink juice, her mouth full and happy.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
It is no shame forto swinken; 800 Þe man þat may wel eten and drinken, Þat nouth ne haue but on swink long, To liggen at hom it is ful strong.
From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown
As anyone who has shopped these vehicles knows, Genesis reels buyers in with a long list of swank, class-above amenities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
EVANSTON, Ill.— Bryan and Kay Keenan just paid $2 million for a 1,600-square-foot apartment in The Mather, a swank retirement community here.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2025
Matt Kinley’s shapeshifting scenic design, combined with Warren Letton’s hypnotic lighting and Jill Parker’s swank costumes, allow scenes to emerge like an impresario’s dreamscapes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
“My comfort zone is being outside of my comfort zone,” León said from his shopping-bag-strewn suite at a swank Beverly Hills hotel in California, his girlfriend and team at his side.
From New York Times ● May 27, 2024
Whether stooping to remove a pile of horse flop or sauntering off to his swank hotel, his hat had to be just so.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Look far enough, and it means muscular toil, that swinking of the ruder man which supports all the complex structure of our life.
From The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by Gissing, George
And he was an ensample to young men which should be fain, by hard swinking, to stuff their pates with as much high learning and occult lore as he had under his own bonnet.
From The Merrie Tales of Jacques Tournebroche And Child Life in Town and Country by Allinson, A. R. (Alfred Richard)
Through sleepless nights, Lady Ogram brooded over the contrast between her own exaltation and the hopeless level of the swinking multitude.
From Our Friend the Charlatan by Gissing, George
I am swinking from dawn to night, while you are guzzling in an alestake.
From Sir Nigel by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
