sb. [Variant of SWAGE sb.2] = SWAGE sb.2 2 b. Also attrib. So Swedge v. SWAGE v.3 (also transf. to double back or round an object).
1825–80. Jamieson, Swedge, an iron chisel with a bevelled edge, used for making the groove round the shoe of a horse, Roxb. To Swedge, to make a groove in a horse-shoe for receiving the nails, Roxb. This is done by such a chisel as that above described.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 1079. A blade of rolled cast-steel swedged into a form. Ibid. The swedged or moulded back.
1881. Greener, Gun, 181. This shell is found to be rather uncertain in exploding, therefore Forsyth brought out the swedge shell as an improvement. Ibid. The base of the bullet is … passed through a screw swedge, which … makes the bullet appear as one piece. Ibid. Two pairs of moulds and one swedging machine.
1884. J. H. Walsh, Sportsman’s Gun & Rifle, II. 314. Conical [bullets] … may be ‘swedged’ or driven into a suitably constructed die by blows upon a punch applied to the base of the bullet.
1901. Kipling, Kim, xiv. He bound them into a neat packet, swedging down the stiff, sticky oil-cloth at the corners.
1908. Animal Managem., 234. The ‘swedge,’ ‘crease,’ or ‘concave tool,’… is a mould through which the hot bar is pulled by the smith, whilst it is hammered by the striker.
