Forms: see SWILL v.; also 1 swiling, 5 swelyng, 6 swellyng; 6 swildyng, swyldyng; 7 Sc. (pl.) swillons. [f. as prec. + -ING1.] The action of the verb SWILL; also concr.
1. Washing, etc. (see SWILL v. 1).
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 2. Clæsnunga & swiling wið hrum & ʓillistrum to heafdes hælo.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 2375. With swilling thries and oones wrong, Therabout stoode she not long, She gate awey the spottes in hast.
1888. Times, 31 Dec., 7/4. The recent swilling of the floor of Barrett’s stable.
2. Heavy or excessive drinking, tippling.
c. 1530. Jyl of Brentford’s Test. (1871), 7. Come you nere, & take parte of our swyllyng.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 382. Who is giuen to excessiue swilling so much as hee?
1638. ‘R. Junius,’ Drunkard’s Char., 45. What so much as swilling blowes up the cheekes with wind, fills the nose and eyes with fier, loads the hands and legs with water?
1714. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1725), I. 117. The cramming and swilling of ordinary Tradesmen at a City Feast.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., v. 68. The continued swilling of even the most innocent fluids will bring on heaviness of stomach.
1858. Lytton, What will He do? IV. iv. All is noise and bustle, and eating and swilling.
3. contr. (usually pl.) = SWILL sb.2 1. ? Obs.
a. 1529. [implied in swyllynge tubbe: see 5].
1537. Coverdale, Expos. Ps. xxii. B vij b. These worldlye goodes are hys draff and swellynges, wherwith he fylleth the hogges belyes.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, D iij. A swete swillings, I would the swine had her.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb. (1623), 123. Filling their troughes with Draffe and Swilling, let them fill their bellies.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 337. The Chaff and the Dust … are very good Swine’s-meat, mixt either with Whey or Swillings.
b. The feeding (of a hog) with swill.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 413. I bought a hog, and when it was swilled, the farmer commended very much the swilling of it.
4. Dirty liquid such as that produced by the washing out of casks or other vessels; also, poor liquor.
1545. Bale, Myst. Iniq., 40. And nothynge do ye at all but vomete fylthye swyllynges.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), 587. The same stroake … should much more wipe away your traditions as swaddes and swillings of mens brewing.
1637. J. Taylor (Water P.), Drinke & Welcome, A 4. A heartlesse liquor much of the nature of Swillons in Scotland, or small Beere in England.
1891. Daily News, 26 Dec., 3/5. The swillings from these barrels.
1899. H. Cobbe, Luton Ch., 495. The coarse swillings of bad fermented liquor.
5. attrib. and Comb., as † swilling-pan, † -pot, † -tub (= SWILL-TUB).
1459–60. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 89. j patella vocata Stokton vel le Swelyngpan. Ibid. (1485–6), 98. Swyllyngpan.
a. 1529. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 173. Stryke the hogges with a clubbe, They haue dronke vp my swyllynge tubbe!
a. 1539. Cartular. Abb. de Rievalle (Surtees), 342. A swyldyng pott of brass.
1601. Strange Rep. Sixe Notorious Witches, A iiij. He thrust his head into a swilling Tubbe full of Swines meate.
1897. Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst., LII. 32. After the plates are removed from the swilling tanks. Ibid. The wet plates from the swilling-troughs of the white pickling machine.
