swinge

¹ American  

[swinj] / swɪndʒ /

verb (used with object)

British Dialect.

swinged, swingeing

1. to thrash; punish.

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swinge ² American  

[swinj] / swɪndʒ /

verb (used with object)

swinged, swingeing

1. to singe.

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swinge British  

/ swɪndʒ /

verb

1. archaic (tr) to beat, flog, or punish

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Other Word Forms

• swinger noun

Etymology

Origin of swinge¹

1250–1300; Middle English swengen to shake, smite, Old English swengan, causative of swingan to swing, or denominative derivative of Old English sweng a blow

Origin of swinge²

First recorded in 1580–90; obscurely akin to singe

Example Sentences

O winds, winds, up and sweep, Up and blow and billow the air, Billow the air with blow and swinge, Rend me this ghastly house of groans!

From The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by MacDonald, George

For the sake of your beaux yeux he will have to swinge them, and lustily.

From Sophia A Romance by Weyman, Stanley John

The young dogs, swinge them to the labour; Let wark an' hunger mak them sober!

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert

That is the neetive misure of the Oirish bards, an' is iminiutly adapted to rendher the Homeric swinge.

From The Lady of the Ice A Novel by De Mille, James

"The Secretary promises me to swinge him," he wrote in 1711; "I must make that rogue an example for a warning to others."

From The Tatler, Volume 1, 1899 by Aitken, George A.