dial., chiefly E. Anglian. Also 7 swill, 9 swail. [prob. of Scandinavian origin, and related to ON. svalar f. pl. (MSw. svali, Sw. svale, Norw. sval) balcony or gallery along the side of a house, ON. svalr cool (see SWALE a.), ON. (MSw., Sw., Norw.) svala to cool.] Shade; a shady place. Also, the cool, the cold.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/2. Swale (P. or shadowe), umbra, umbraculum, estiva.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., V. (1593), 116. Downe she sate among the trees which gaue a plesant swale. Ibid. (1571), Calvin on Ps. xxiii. 4. David alludeth to ye dark swales or the dens of wyld beastes.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric., Dict. Rust., Swill, used in the Northern parts for shade, or shadow.
c. 1700. Kennett, MS. Lansd. 1033, Swale, cold or dank air; as, he lies in the swale, i.e. in the open cold air.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 139. Granny there was on the bench, Coolly sitting in the swail.
1857. Borrow, Romany Rye, xxv. Turn your horse out to grass … in the swale of the morn and the evening.
