Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Swingle
Swin′gle
,Verb.
I.
[Freq. of
swing
.] 1.
To dangle; to wave hanging.
[Obs.]
Johnson.
2.
To swing for pleasure.
[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
1.
To clean, as flax, by beating it with a swingle, so as to separate the coarse parts and the woody substance from it; to scutch.
2.
To beat off the tops of without pulling up the roots; – said of weeds.
[Prov. Eng.]
Forby.
Swin′gle
,Noun.
A wooden instrument like a large knife, about two feet long, with one thin edge, used for beating and cleaning flax; a scutcher; – called also
swingling knife
, swingling staff
, and swingling wand
. Webster 1828 Edition
Swingle
SWIN'GLE
,Verb.
I.
1.
To swing for pleasure. [Not in use.]SWIN'GLE
,Verb.
T.
SWIN'GLE
,Noun.
Definition 2024
swingle
swingle
English
Verb
swingle (third-person singular simple present swingles, present participle swingling, simple past and past participle swingled)
- to beat or flog, especially for extracting the fibres from flax stalks; to scutch
- 1858, John Harland (editor), The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster,
- The first operation in dressing flax is to swingle or beat it, in order to detach it from the harle or skimps.
- 1858, John Harland (editor), The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster,
- To beat off the tops of (weeds) without pulling up the roots.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Forby to this entry?)
Noun
swingle (plural swingles)
Etymology 2
Verb
swingle (third-person singular simple present swingles, present participle swingling, simple past and past participle swingled)
- To dangle; to wave hanging.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
- (obsolete, Britain, dialect) To swing for pleasure.