Swine

Pl. swine. Forms: Singular and Plural. 1–4 swin, 1–6 swyn, 4–5 suyn, 4–7 swyne, (4 suine, swiyn, squine, Ayenb. zuyn, 4–5 squyne, 5 swyyn, swyyne, sweyne, sqwyne, 6 suyne, swyin, swyen, 7 sweyn, shwine), 5– swine. Plural in -s. 5 swynes, 6, 8–9 swines. [Common Teutonic: OE. swín str. n. = OFris., OS., MLG. swîn, MDu. swijn, (NFris. swinn, EFris. swin, WFris. swyn, LG. swien, Du. zwijn), OHG., MHG. swîn, (G. schwein), ON. svín, (Sw., Da. svin), Goth. swein:—OTeut. *swīnom, neut. of adj. formation with suffix -īno- (cf. L. suīnus, OSl. svinъ swinish, and see -INE suffix¹) on the root of L. sūs, Gr. ὖς, and SOW sb.¹

  The orig. use may have been either generic or restricted to the young of the swine; for the latter cf. Goth. gaitein, OHG. geiʒʒîn young goat, kid, cogn. w. OE. gǽten of goats, L. hædīnus of kids:—Indo-eur. *ghaidīno-, f. ghaid- GOAT.]

  1.  An animal of the genus Sus or family Suidæ, comprising bristle-bearing non-ruminant hoofed mammals, of which the full-grown male is called a boar, the full-grown female a sow; esp. the common species Sus scrofa, domesticated from early times by Gentile nations for its flesh, and regarded as a type of greediness and uncleanness. (Now only literary, dialectal, or as a generic term in zoology, etc., being superseded in common use by pig or hog: see these words.)

  (a)  sing.  725.  Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), S 700. Suis, swin.

a. 1000.  Riddles, xli. [xl.] 105 (Gr.). Mara ic eom & fættra, þonne amæsted swin.

a. 1122.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1085. Ne an cu ne an swin næs belyfon.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 143, in O. E. Hom., I. 169. Swines brede is swiðe swete, swa is of wilde dore.

c. 1205.  Lay., 468. Al swa þat wilde swin ꝥ wroteð ȝeond þan grouen.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 128. Ase swin ipund ine sti uorte uetten.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 26751 (Cott.). Þai sal yow vp on balkes lift Als suine [Fairf. squine] þat ar to salting tift.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 12342. By a mykel fir he sat, Rostyng a swyn gret & fat.

a. 1440.  Sir Degrev., 1398. Sche brouȝt fram the kychene A scheld of a wylde swynne.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Macc. i. 47. To offre vp swynes flesh and other vnclene beastes.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. i. 34. Oh monstrous beast, low like a swine he lyes.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 53. Circe … Whose charmed Cup Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a groveling Swine.

1682.  Shadwell, Lanc. Witches, II. Coursing had gotten me a woundy stomach, and I eat like a Swine.

1780.  Cowper, Love of World Reproved, 3. There is a part in ev’ry swine No friend or follower of mine May taste.

1799.  S. Freeman, Town Off., 58. He found a swine going at large in the town.

  (b)  pl.  c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., xxxvii. § 4. He bið anlicost fettum swinun þe syle willað licgan on fulum solum.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 37. Ðet oref þe þis dear waneð beð shep & reðeren & get & swin.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4711. [Þal] soght þam rotes, als þe suine.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxix. (Placidas), 319. He … al his bestiale sleu in hy… assis, mulis, schepe & swyne.

1421.  Cov. Leet Bk., 27. We commaund þat no man haue no Swyne goyng in the hyȝe streit.

c. 1452.  Termes of Venery, in J. Hodgkin, Proper Terms, 56/2. Sundyr or wylde Swyne, Dryfte of Tame Swyne.

1528.  Roy, Rede me (Arb.), 113. There is grountynge of pigges and swyne With lowynge of oxen and kye.

1562.  Leigh, Surv. (1577), F iv b. Neither maie Geese or Swine haue common, but by the lordes sufferaunce.

1671.  Milton, P. R., IV. 630. Thee and thy Legions, yelling they shall flye, And beg to hide them in a herd of Swine.

1796.  W. H. Marshall, Rural Econ. W. Eng., II. 222. Of Swine, Somersetshire appears still to persevere in the old white breed.

1846.  Youatt, Pig, 24. Swine are the most prolific of all domesticated animals.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., IV. 296. The rooting swine Beneath the hedge-row oak-trees grunt and whine.

  β.  1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, G j. His Swyneherd, he that kept his swynes.

1551.  in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), II. II. v. 285. Beeves, muttons, veals, swines.

1738.  [G. Smith], Cur. Relat., II. 421. When Swines continue longer than ordinary in the Mire.

1759.  Brown, Compl. Farmer, 41. Young shoots, which are swines of about three quarters of a year old.

1850.  H. Melville, White Jacket, I. xv. 93. Some of you chaps haven’t no more manners than so many swines!

  b.  In proverbial and allusive expressions, and in fig. context.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. vii. 6. Ne ʓe ne wurpen eowre meregrotu toforan eowrum swynon.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 135. Ne sculen ȝe nawiht ȝimstones leggen swinen to mete.

13[?].  Guy Warw. (A.), 3680. Þou sest Mahoun ne Apolin Be nouȝt worþ þe brestel of a swin.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 647. And stolen were hise lettres pryuely Out of his box whil he sleep as a swyn.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 360. The servantz lich to drunke Swyn Begunne forto route faste.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 342 b. A swyne to teache Minerua, was a prouerbe [etc.].

1560.  in Maitl. Club Misc., III. 210. That lecherous Swyne the Byschop of Rome (quhai hais rutet wp the Lordis wyneyard sa far as in him wes).

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., IV. ii. 91. Fire enough for a Flint, Pearle enough for a Swine.

1590.  Greenwood, Collect. Sclaund. Art., G j. We sayd you shall finde it … a pyg of that Swyne.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 109. ’Tis old, but true, Still Swine eats all the draugh.

a. 1600.  Montgomerie, Misc. P., xxx. 42 (Laing MS.). Lat me nocht sleip in sleuth, In stinkand sty with sathanis sinfull suyne.

1608.  Willet, Hexapla Exod., 683. A certaine Sorbonist, then a popish bishop … a swine out of the same stie.

1761.  Brit. Mag., II. 440. The tricks of old Circe deter us from Wine, Tho’ we honour a Boar, we won’t make ourselves Swine.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xix. He that does me not reason is a swine of Sussex, and I’ll make him kneel to the pledge, if I should cut his hams, and smoke them for bacon.

  2.  fig. Applied opprobriously to a sensual, degraded, or coarse person; also (in mod. use) as a mere term of contempt or abuse.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 263. Mannis lawis hav distemperid kynde of men, and turned hem into swyn.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 687. Ye maisty Swyne ye ydel wrechhes.

1430–40.  Lydg., Bochas, I. xi. (MS. Bodl. 263), 51/2. How that this swyn … This Thiestes, afftir Europa Lay bi his douhter callid Pellopia.

1531.  Tindale, Expos. 1 John ii. 13–17 (1537), 42. Lechery … maketh a man altogether a swyne.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., V. ii. 10. This foule Swine Is now euen in the Centry of this Isle.

1842.  Browning, Soliloquy Span. Cloister, ix. Gr-r-r—you swine!

1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxxviii. I shall be butchered to amuse these swine.

1907.  H. Wyndham, Flare of Footlights, xxxv. The swine might have had the decency to have made up his alleged mind a bit sooner.

  3.  = swine-fish: see 5.

1844.  W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl., xv. (1855), 143. The ‘woll-fish,’ here ‘swine,’ (anarhichas lupus of Linnæus).

  4.  Obvious Combinations: attrib., as swine-bristle, -flesh, † -greun [GROIN sb.², snout], -leather [cf. G. schwein(s)leder], -market, † -pork, -trough, etc.; adj. = SWINISH, as in swine enjoyment, security; objective, etc., as swine-buyer, -catcher, -dealer, -eater, -keeper, -keeping; swine-eating adj.; swine-like adj. and adv.; parnsynthetic (similative), as swine-eared, -faced, -headed, -mouthed, -shouted adjs.; occas. with swine’s, as † swine’s-faced.

c. 1440.  Alphabet of Tales, 396. Þe harys on his browis war lyke *swyne-brustyls.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. i. Working on tanned hides, amid pincers, paste-horns, rosin, swine-bristles, and a nameless flood of rubbish.

1707.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4318/4. Richard Wells, of Ingoldsby in Lincolnshire, *Swinebuyer.

1835.  App. Munic. Corpor. Rep., IV. 2652 (Congleton). The *swine-catcher, levying 1s. upon each vagrant pig.

1916.  H. C. Rowland, in Boston Globe, 19 Nov., 81/2. How the blistering sheol am I to make a silk purse out of one of these swivel-breasted, *swine-eared things that have the nerve to pose for Olympians?

c. 1592.  Marlowe, Jew of Malta, II. i. These *swine-eating Christians.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., V. 14. Wit … lifts our *swine-enjoyments from the mire.

1595.  Enq. Tripe-wife (1881), 150. The pudding house, Where *swine facde beautie onely sate in pride.

1596.  Nashe, Saffron Walden, Wks. 1905, III. 134. Two or three sturdie Plow-men (such as his swines fac’t bluecoate was).

1597.  1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., I. i. 281. What an unmanerlie microcosme was this swine-faced clowne.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. i. (Bodl. MS.). *Swyne flesche and schepe flesche is better rosted þan sode.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), ix. 36. Þe Sarzenes also bringes furth na grysez, ne þai ete swyne flessch.

1884.  J. Tait, Mind in Matter, 189. The Jews … prohibited from using swine-flesh.

1691.  Ray, N. C. Words, 138. *Swine-greun, a Swines snout.

1710.  Sibbald, Hist. Fife, 53. *Swine-headed and mouth’d and backed.

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

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. ii. 38. A hundred and fiftie totter’d Prodigalls, lately come from *Swine-keeping.

1409.  in Beverley MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm., 1900), 100. Calf-lethyr, *swyn-lether.

1575–85.  Abp. Sandys, Serm., 156. Let vs not *swinelike returne to wallowe in that slime againe.

1604.  Jas. I., Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.), 106. Olde drunkards thinke they prolong their dayes, by their swinelike diet.

1624.  Quarles, Job, xix. In Pleasure’s sincke, he takes a swinelike Pleasure.

1888.  Pall Mall G., 26 May, 11/1. Creatures more swine-like than human.

1467–8.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 603/2. A Strete called *Swynemarket.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 441. Rumford, the glory whereof dependeth on a swine mercat.

1456.  Sir G. Haye, Gov. Princes, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 157. Sum man luxurious as a *swyne pork, and sum chaste as a turtur dowe.

1633.  Ford, Broken H., III. ii. To one that franks his lust In *swine-security of bestial incest.

1887.  Morris, Odyssey, X. 239. And *swine-shape they had, and the voice … of the boar.

1840.  Longf., Sp. Student, I. iv. I tell you this is nothing but Vino Tinto of La Mancha, with a tang of the *swine-skin.

1592.  Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. 1904, I. 169. Hee will … sonnet a whole quire of paper in praise of Lady *Swin-snout, his yeolow-fac’d Mistres.

1900.  W. Archer, trans. Ibsen’s When we dead Awaken, I. 14. Lop-eared, low-browed dog-skulls, and fatted swine-snouts.

1602.  Breton, Wonders worth Hearing, Wks. (Grosart), II. 8/1. Squinte eyed, *Swine snouted, wry bodyed, and splay footed.

1579.  Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 124. Let him resorte to M. Heskins’ *swyne-trough.

1616.  Deacon, Tobacco Tortured, 57. The Swil bols swine-troffe.

1619.  in Ferguson & Nanson, Munic. Rec. Carlisle (1887), 278. Keping of swine troughes in the hye streyt.

1827.  Scott, Chron. Canongate, ii. They come, with the prodigal son, to the husks and the swine-trough.

1559.  Richmond Wills (Surtees), 135. One *swyne tubbe.

  5.  Special Combinations (also with swine’s): swine-back, (a) a convex or arched back like that of a swine (= HOGBACK 1); (b) in Coal-mining = HOGBACK 2 b, HORSE-BACK 4; swine-backed a., having a back like that of a swine; spec. in Archery, having a convexly curved outline (opp. to saddle-backed); swine-badger = hog-badger (HOG sb.¹ 13 c); swine-crew (crue), -cruive dial. (CREW², CRUIVE], a pigsty; † swine-drunk a. [cf. ON. svíndrukkin], excessively drunk, beastly drunk; so † swine drunkenness; swine-eyes, eyes like those of a swine, which cannot be directed upwards; swine fever, a name for two infectious diseases of swine (produced by different bacteria), distinctively called hog-cholera, chiefly affecting the intestines, and swine-plague, chiefly affecting the lungs (see below); swine-fish, the wolf-fish, Anarrhichas lupus, so called from the movement of its snout; † swine-garth, an enclosure for swine, a pigsty; swine-girl, a girl who tends swine; swine-grease (see swine’s grease below); swine(’s)-head, a swinish or self-indulgent person; † swine-hog = HOG sb.¹ 1; † swine-house [cf. ON. svínahús], a building in which swine are kept; hence † swine-housegarth, an enclosed piece of ground containing such a building; swine-hulk, -hull dial. [HULK sb.¹, HULL sb.¹ 4 b], a pigsty; † swine-louse, a woodlouse, hog-louse or sow-bug; swine-meat dial., food for swine, hog-wash; swine-oat local (see quot.); swine(’s)-ponny local (see quots.); swine-plague, an infectious disease of swine, resembling but distinct from hog-cholera (see swine fever above); swine’s back, local name for a narrow hill-ridge (cf. HOGBACK 2 a); † swine-seam, = swine’s-grease; † swine’s evil, = SCROFULA; swine’s grease (occas. swine-grease), now dial., the fat of a swine, lard; swine-shott, † -shoute dial. [SHOAT²], a young pig; swine-skeel dial., a tub for hog-wash; † swine-sought, = SWINE-POX 2; † swine’s-pike Mil., = SWINE’S FEATHER; † swine’s pudding = HOG’S PUDDING; † swine’s-stead, a building in which swine are kept; † swine-wroting, a place in which swine root. (See also SWINE’S FEATHER.)

1675.  Lond. Gaz., No. 976/4. A … bay Nag, with a Blaze down his Face, a *Swine-back.

1883.  Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, Swine-back (S.W.). See Horses. Ibid., Horses, or Horsebacks, natural channels cut, or washed away by water, in a coal seam, and filled up with shale and sandstone. Sometimes a bank or ridge of foreign matter in a coal seam.

1545.  Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 133. The *swyne backed fashion, maketh the shaft deader.

1710.  [see swine-headed in 4].

1890.  Doyle, White Company, xxxiv. It has been my wont to choose a saddle-backed feather for a dead shaft, and a swine-backed for a smooth flier.

1768.  Pennant, Brit. Zool., I. 66. Naturalists once distinguished the badger, by the names of the *swine-badger, and the dog-badger; from the supposed resemblance of their heads to those animals.

1669–81.  *Swine-crue [see CREW² 1].

1501.  Extr. Aberd. Regr. (1844), I. 70. That al the tovn be devoyen of *swn croffis.

c. 1575.  [see CRUIVE 2].

1616.  Reg. Privy Council Scotl., X. 559. Hiddin in swyne crooves and middingis.

1592.  Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. 1904, I. 207. The third [stage] is *Swine drunke, heauy, lumpish, and sleepie, and cries for a little more drinke.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, IV. iii. 286. Drunkennesse is his best vertue, for he will be swine-drunke.

1547–64.  Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), 124. Of all other most odious is *swine drunkennesse, wherewith both the body & soule is deformed.

1872.  Jefferies, Toilers of the Field (1892), 323. Curses on our insular *swine-eyes that could not see it.

1898.  Daily News, 15 Sept., 3/2. Provided … that the swine are not in a *swine-fever infected place.

1863.  Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 289. The Sea Wolf, Sea Cat, or *Swine-fish.

1924.  Wayne County (MO) Jrnl., 20 Nov., 7/1. It is a striking fact that hogs following steers and that sheep in open sheds are seldom if ever affected by *swine ‘flu.’

1459–60.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 88. Pro mundacione de le *Swynegarth.

1886.  C’tess E. Martinengo-Cesaresco, Ess. Study Folk-Songs, 199. The *swine girl went up to the mountain top and sang and sang.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 341. He seyde, thou Iohn, thou, *swynesheed awak.

1819.  Keats, On C. A. Brown, ii. He ’sdeigned the swine-head at the wassail-bowl.

1548.  Durham Wills (Surtees), I. 12. ij *swyn houggs x s.

1601.  in W. Jackson, Cumbld. & Westmoreld. Papers (1892), I. 155. Item a swyne hogge xii s.

1576.  E. Worsely, Surv. Mannor Felsted, Essex, 150 (MS.). To repaire and maintaine … the lord’s hoggs-cote or *swinehouse.

1675.  Hobbes, Odyssey (1677), 168. As many swine-houses replete with swine.

1466–7.  Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 91. Pro operacione et emendacione pavimenti … in le *swynhousgarth.

14[?].  Metr. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 626/1. Ara, stye, or a *swyne holke.

1566.  in Leader, Rec. Burgery Sheffield (1897), 15. Hughe Storey for a smythye and a *swyne hoowle iij s.

1674.  Ray, N. C. Words, 47. A Swinhull or Swine-crue, a Hogs-stye.

1807.  R. Anderson, Cumberld. Ball., 145. To the sweyne-hull hic an’ swat thee.

1585.  Lupton, Thous. Notable Th. (1675), 50. Little worms with many feet (of some called *Swine-lice).

1583.  Durham Wills (Surtees), II. 78. j other tubbe, for *swine meat 12 d.

1819.  Rees, Cycl., XXXIV. *Swine-Oat,… a particular kind of oat, which is cultivated for the use of pigs … in some parts of Cornwall … the naked oat, or avena nuda.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., 550. The Roman Emperours coine: which because swine many times rooting into the ground turne up with their snouts, the country people [at Littleborough] call *Swines-penies.

1723.  W. Stukeley, in Mem. (Surtees), III. 149. Many coyns found in one field towards that bridg [at Littleborough]. They call ’em Swine-pennys.

1891.  Billings, Med. Dict., *Swine plague..., an acute, epidemic, contagious, and usually fatal disease of swine, with … rapid and labored respiration, and sometimes diarrhœa.

1826.  W. A. Miles, Deverel Barrow, 15. On its ridge [sc. a range of chalk], or to use a more common term, on the *swine’s back, is a cluster of tumuli.

1562–3.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., XI. 248. Item, for *swyne same … iij li. iiij s.

1528.  Paynell, Salernes Regim., R j. By *swynes yuell is vnderstande inflasion vnder the chynne about the throte.

1584.  Cogan, Haven Health, cx. (1636), 111. A plaster made of figges … are good for the swines evill.

a. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 11. Ane emplastre of maluez & *swynes grese.

1463–4.  Compota Domest. (Abbotsf., 1836), 45. xij petrarum de Swynegrece.

1530.  Palsgr., 278/2. Swynes grease, sayn de pourceau; gresse de porc.

1600.  Surflet, Country Farm, II. xlviii. 307. This roote roasted and stamped with olde swines grease, and applyed to the cornes of the feet.

1581.  Durham Wills (Surtees), II. 35. v *swyne shoates.

1901.  Trotter, Galloway Gossip, 332 (E.D.D.). Stots, an hoggs, an swine-shotts.

1559.  Richmond Wills (Surtees), 135. One *swyne skele.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 375/1. Þe *Swynsoghte, porrigo.

1638.  Ward, Animadv. War, I. cclxxxi. 393 (heading), The Description of an Instrument, invented by King Henry the fifth, at the Battell of Agincourt, and since used by the King of Sweden, and by him called a *Swines-Pike. Ibid. (1639), II. 90. These Shot ought to have each man his Swines-Pike at his girdle, to stick down against the Horse.

1647.  Trapp, Comm. Mark vii. 3. Sometimes they wear a sausage or a *swines-pudding in place of a silver or gold chain.

1596.  Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 645/1. A delighte to keepe his sayde howse neate and cleanlye, which nowe being … rather *swynes-steades then howses, is the cheifest cause of his soe beastly manner of life.

c. 1475.  Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 798/30. Hic scrobs, a *swynwrotyng.

  b.  In names of plants, usually with swine’s (cf. HOG sb.¹ 13 d, PIG sb.¹ 13 b, SOW sb.¹ 8 b): swine-arnot Sc., the marsh betony, Stachys palustris; swine-arnuts Sc., tall oat-grass, Avena elatior; swine(’s) fennel, finkle, Peucedanum officinale, also called HOG’S FENNEL and sow-fennel (SOW sb.¹ 8 b); swine’s snout (see quot. 1863); swine’s succory (see SUCCORY 2); swine(’s) thistle dial. = SOW-THISTLE 1. (See also SWINE’s CRESS, SWINE’S GRASS.)

1812.  Souter, Agric. Surv. Banffs., App. 38. If it [sc. the land] be pestered with quicken, *swine-arnot or other such spreading roots.

1777.  Lightfoot, Flora Scot. (1789), I. 105. Avena elatior … Tall Oat-Grass. Anglis. *Swines Ar-Nuts, or Earth-Nuts. Scotis.

c. 1400.  MS. Laud 553, lf. 11. Feniculus porcinus is an herbe þ^t me clepitth *swynesfenel or wormeseed.

1529.  Grete Herball, cccxxx. S v b/1. Peucedane is an herbe or wode called dogfenell or swynefenel.

1842.  Browning, Solil. Sp. Cloister, i. What’s the Latin name for ‘parsley’? What’s the Greek name for *Swine’s Snout?

1863.  Prior, Pop. Names Brit. Plants, 222. Swine’s snout, L. rostrum porcinum, from the form of the receptacle, the dandelion.

a. 1500.  Gl. Harl. 3388, in Sax. Leechd., III. 346/2. *Swines thistell, sonchus oleraceus.

1796.  Nemnich, Polygl.-Lex., Swine thistle, the sow-thistle.

1824.  Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., 104, s.v. Burr-thristles, There are five kinds of thistles common in Scotland—the burr or horse thristle; the corn thristle; the moss thristle; the swine thristle; and the Scotch thristle.