sb. pl. Sc. Also 6 swaits, swaittis, 9 swatts. [repr. OE. swatan ‘cervisia,’ beer.] New small beer or ale; also see quot. 1888.

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1508.  Dunbar, Flyting, 130. Sueir swappit swanky, swynekeper ay for swaittis.

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1572.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxxiii. 261. Now drink thay Mylk and Swaits in steid of Aill.

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c. 1682.  F. Sempill, Blythsome Wedding, 69. There will be … swats, and scraped paunches.

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1717.  Ramsay, Elegy on Lucky Wood, vi. She ne’er … kept dow’d tip within her waws, But reaming swats.

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1791.  Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 40. Reaming swats, that drank divinely.

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1871.  C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, xxx. However, he took a draught of swats (small ale).

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1888.  Edmondston & Saxby, Home Naturalist, 209. Swatts is the water that covers sowens, and is used to thin the sowens, or as a drink.

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