Dictionary.com
definitions

swizzle

[swiz-uh l]
noun
  1. a tall drink, originating in Barbados, composed of full-flavored West Indian rum, lime juice, crushed ice, and sugar: typically served with a swizzle stick.
verb (used with object), swiz·zled, swiz·zling.
  1. to agitate (a beverage) with a swizzle stick.
  2. to gulp down; guzzle.

Origin of swizzle

First recorded in 1805–15; origin uncertain
Related formsswiz·zler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for swizzle

Historical Examples of swizzle

  • If enny one tries to swizzle me out of it I'm goin' to swizzle back, an' you can lay to that.

    A Man to His Mate

    J. Allan Dunn

  • McGlade slowly and deliberately drank the last of his swizzle.

    The Shadow

    Arthur Stringer

  • In the sparkling “swizzle” was an infusion of the baneful Savannah flower.

    The Maroon

    Mayne Reid

  • At the worst of the storm there is neither Heaven nor Earth, but only a swizzle into which a man may be brewed.

  • Not fizz at all, but that old brewing of honey—mead—metheglin—old Saxon swizzle.

    Sir Hilton's Sin

    George Manville Fenn

British Dictionary definitions for swizzle

swizzle

noun
  1. US an unshaken cocktail
  2. an alcoholic drink containing gin or rum
  3. British informal a swiz
verb
  1. (tr) to stir a swizzle stick in (a drink)
  2. British informal to swindle; cheat

Word Origin for swizzle

C19: of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for swizzle
n.

1813, name for various kinds of liquor drinks, or for intoxicating drinks generally, possibly a variant of switchel "a drink of molasses and water" (often mixed with rum), first attested 1790, of uncertain origin. Swizzle-stick attested by 1859.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper