colloq. [attrib. use of SWELL sb. in sense 9.] That is, or has the character or style of, a ‘swell’; befitting a ‘swell.’
a. Of persons: Stylishly or handsomely dressed or equipped; of good (social) position; of distinguished appearance or status.
1810. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., XV. 29. My great swell pris’ner and his pal are flown!
1823. Byron, Juan, XI. xix. So prime, so swell [note gentlemanly], so nutty, and so knowing.
1826. Sporting Mag., XVIII. 279. The two very swell coachmen who drove them out of London.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, VI. viii. Why are we not to interfere with politics as much as the swell ladies in London?
a. 1876. M. Collins, Pen Sk. by Vanished Hand (1879), I. 113. How ‘swell’ they are! how carefully-gloved and glossily-hatted.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xiv. (1891), 147. A decent sort of fellow belonging to swell people.
b. Of things: Distinguished in style; stylish; first-rate, tip-top.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., Any thing remarkable for its beauty or elegance, is called a swell article; so, a swell crib, is a genteel house.
1831. Lincoln Herald, 21 Oct., p. iv/5. We had some slap-up and swell lingo against the church.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, iii. A youth … appeared … in one of those costumes to which the public consent … has awarded the title of ‘Swell.’
1876. C. D. Warner, Wint. Nile, xii. 159. It is getting to be considered that cigars are more ‘swell’ than pipes.
1897. S. Crane, Third Violet, vii. 44. You don’t look as if you had such a swell time.
C. Swell mob, a class of pickpockets who assume the dress and manners of respectable people in order to escape detection. Hence Swell-mobsman, a man belonging to the swell mob. slang.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xii. A man who has belonged to the swell mob is not easily repulsed.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), II. 369/1. Swell mobsmen, and thieves, and housebreakers.
1886. J. K. Jerome, Idle Thoughts, i. 7. He enters … giving himself really the air of a member of the swell mob.
1886. D. C. Murray, Cynic Fort., x. When he had worn something of the air of a dandy—or, at the worst, of a successful swell-mobsman.
