[f. SWADDLE v. + -ER1. For the commonly accepted explanation of this term see quot. 1747. The plausibility of this account is challenged, and another origin is suggested, in N. & Q., Ser. IV. I. (1868), 377/1.]
orig. A nickname for a Methodist, esp. a Methodist preacher, in Ireland; now, for Protestants in general.
1747. (10 Sept.) C. Wesley, Jrnl. (1849), I. 457. We dined with a gentleman, who explained our name to us. It seems we are beholden to Mr. Cennick for it, who abounds in such-like expressions as, ‘I curse and blaspheme all the gods in heaven, but the babe that lay in the manger, the babe that lay in Mary’s lap, the babe that lay in swaddling clouts,’ &c. Hence they nicknamed him, ‘Swaddler, or Swaddling John’; and the word sticks to us all, not excepting the Clergy.
1771–2. Ess. fr. Batchelor (1773), II. 198. Those glorious days, when … regulators shall disarm troops, and swaddlers superseded [sic] the clergy.
1810. J. Lambert, Trav. Canada & U.S. (1816), I. 346. Quakers, Shakers, Swadlers, and Jumpers.
1825. Cobbett, Prot. Ref. (1847), 105. How the swaddlers would cry out for another ‘Reformation’!
a. 1834. in W. J. Fitz-Patrick, Life Doyle (1880), I. 370. Arrah! hould yer tongue, ye canting Swaddler.
1869. Card. Cullen, in Times, 3 Sept., 8/3. Members may be of any religion—Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Socinians, Arians, Swaddlers, and some probably of no religion at all.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, 232. To cast ridicule on the ‘swaddler’ and the ‘publican preacher.’
1907. Catholic Weekly, 29 Nov., 3/3. No priest could enter, and the soupers and swaddlers had all the guidance … of children and teachers.
