swizzle

American  

[swiz-uhl] / ˈswɪz əl /

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.

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verb (used with object)

swizzled, swizzling

1. to agitate (a beverage) with a swizzle stick.

2. to gulp down; guzzle.

swizzle British  

/ ˈswɪzəl /

noun

1. an unshaken cocktail

2. an alcoholic drink containing gin or rum

3. informal a swiz

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verb

1. (tr) to stir a swizzle stick in (a drink)

2. informal to swindle; cheat

Other Word Forms

• swizzler
  noun

Etymology

Origin of swizzle

First recorded in 1805–15; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

swizzle swizzled swizzling

The South Carolina license plate on the Honda stopped in front of me at a red light, and its silhouette of the state’s signature palm looking regrettably like a tarantula atop a swizzle stick.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025

Also included are a champagne swizzle stick and a metal-mounted foliate cocktail stick holder.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2023

Mr. Johnson is more likely to keynote at the annual meetings of Wall Street banks than serve as the swizzle stick at a professional mixer.

From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2022

For the ultimate presentation, add a cinnamon swizzle stick.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2022

My mother kept all of us on a diet of rice and guava leaves in the form of hourly cups of steamy tea, with sugarcane swizzle sticks.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

She propped the flour bag on the boards, squeezing it gently between her short cherry-red nails, and asked if I had any questions, while I swizzled back-and-forth slowly.

From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2020

Correia says the Swizzle Inn’s version is the original, but wherever it first swizzled into existence, the drink has taken on a life of its own.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2020

He swizzled the ice around in his glass, still holding it up to the light.

From Unwise Child by Garrett, Randall

"Well, I'll be swizzled," said one of them, excitedly, "who made the bridge?"

From William Adolphus Turnpike by Banks, William

The tall narrow pots had a hole in the lid for splash-free swizzling.

From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2023

In the meantime, I’ll be here with the rest of you, worrying and swizzling in place.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2020

I tell the bow-tied bartender, who nods and gets right to swizzling and shaking, his brows knit tight in concentration.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 2, 2016

At restaurants just inside the French border they could be seen swizzling champagne, ordering such delicacies as speckled trout, fresh asparagus, vieux cognac.

From Time Magazine Archive

Say! ever been in one of those big machine shops and seen a giant flywheel swizzling round at three hundred revs. a minute?

From Men of Affairs by Pertwee, Roland