vbl. sb. [f. SWAB v.1] + -ING1.] The action of SWAB v.1; cleaning with (or as with) a swab or mop; the use of a swab or swabs. Also concr. (see quot. 1891).
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xiv. The washing, swabbing, squilgeeing, etc., etc.
1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf.-t., xi. Sparrows … keep up such a swashing and swabbing … round … the water basins.
1876. Bristowe, Theory & Pract. Med. (1878), 215. The larynx must be treated … by ‘swabbing.’
1891. Labour Commission Gloss., Swabbing, that which is swept up by the swab, a mop used for cleaning the floors in woollen mills.
attrib. 1880. Baring-Gould, Mehalah, vii. (1884), 93. She caught up a swabbing-mop.
