Swing-

in combination.

  1.  In general attrib. or adj. use (mostly without hyphen, as a separate word). a. Applied to a piece of mechanism, apparatus, or utensil suspended, hinged, or pivoted so as to be capable of oscillating or turning to and fro: = SWINGING ppl. a. 1, 2. (See also 2.)

1791.  Rep. Comm. Thames-Isis Navig., 15. At the lower End of this Channel there is a Pen formed by a Swing Stride and Flood Gates.

1828.  P. Cunningham, N.S. Wales (ed. 3), II. 213. Swing stoves and charcoal put on board, to carry about into the damp corners.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1112. Centre point, or swing hinges, appear to be of two kinds.

1843.  Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 257. The whole load is quickly immersed by a swing crane into a tank of water about five feet deep.

1855.  Leifchild, Cornwall, 257. The miners worked in a swing stage, which they dropped against such parts of the side as they intended to take away.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Swing Tea-kettle, a kettle on a stand for table use, moving on pivots.

1869.  Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. 02. The shaft, V, which is supported by fixed bearings, K, and the swing or movable bearings.

1885.  Lady Brassey, The Trades, 379. The perpetual rolling and tossing of the vessel had warned us that in all probability the maximum clinometrical angle of the swing-table would ere long be reached.

1888.  Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., 363. Swing Table, the table of a drilling machine which is made to swing or swivel around the central pillar … in order to bring any desired portion of the work underneath the drill.

1909.  ‘Q’ (Quilier-Couch), True Tilda, xix. 257. A swing-lamp shone down upon a white-covered table.

  b.  = SWINGING ppl. a. 3. rare.

1809.  W. Irving, Knickerb., III. ix. (1861), 112. He proceeded on a long swing trot through the muddy lanes of the metropolis.

1863.  Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 95. Going the whole way at a swing trot.

  2.  Special Combinations: swing-back, the back of a photographic camera, carrying the sensitized plate, arranged so as to be ‘swung’ or turned on a hinge or pivot into any required position; swing-bar, a bar arranged to turn on a pivot; spec. a swingletree; swing-beam, a beam arranged to turn, or to enable something to turn, on a pivot or the like (see quots.); swing-bed, a movable stool-bed in a gun-carriage; also attrib., as swing-bed-plate; swing-boat, a boat-shaped swing used for amusement at fairs, etc.; swing-bridge, a form of drawbridge that turns horizontally on a pivot (either at one end or in the center); swing-cart, a cart ‘swung’ or suspended on springs, a spring-cart; swing-chair, a rocking-chair; swing-door, a door constructed to swing to or shut of itself; pl. a door made in two leaves, which are hung separately and furnished with springs that bring them back to meet in the middle when pushed open in any direction; swing-front, in a photographic camera (cf. swing-back); swing-gate, a gate constructed to swing to or shut of itself; spec. a form of this used in Australia for drafting sheep; swing-glass, a looking-glass suspended on pivots; swing-handle, a handle turning on pivots, esp. such an arched handle of a basket, pail, etc.; swing-jack (JACK sb.¹ 10), see quot.; swing-jointed a., jointed so as to turn to and fro on a pivot; swing-plough (cf. G. schwingpflug), a plow without wheels; † swing-tail, a long tail that swings about; also attrib. having a sweeping tail or train; swing-tailed a., having a long swinging tail; swing-tap, a tap constructed to turn horizontally on the supply-pipe and thus open or close the valve as required; swing-tool (see quot. 1875); swing-wheel, the escape-wheel of a clock, which drives the pendulum; also, the balance-wheel of a watch; also attrib. See also SWING-ROPE, etc.

1862.  Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 3064. Portrait Camera, and lens with *swing back.

1878.  Abney, Photogr., xxxiii. 269. A fair general focus can … be obtained by using with the camera a vertically-pivoted swing-back.

1844.  Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 293. These studs are inserted into a *swing-bar that can be bolted to the horizontal rails of the framing, in such position as will bring the intermediate wheels into proper pitch with the principals.

1852.  Burn, Naval & Milit. Dict. (1863), Swing bar or *beam of a rocket frame.

1857.  P. Colquhoun, Comp. ‘Oarsman’s Guide,’ 32. The swing beams are the long beams running along the [lock-]gates, by which they are pushed open.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Swing-beam. 1. (Railway Engineering.) A cross-piece suspended from the truck, and sustaining the car-body, so that it may have independent lateral motion. 2. (Carpentry.) A cross-beam supporting an over-head mow in a barn.

1852.  Burn, Naval & Milit. Dict. (1863), *Swing bed of a field gun.

1861.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour, III. 107/2. All the caravans and *swing-boats, and what not, used to assemble there.

1791.  Estimate Works Thames-Isis Navig., 3. At Duxford Wear, a *Swing Bridge for Towing Horses, and Fence-Gates.

1898.  W. W. Jacobs, Sea Urchins, Grey Parrot (1906), 213. The gangway was shipped, and … the Curlew drifted slowly away from the quay and headed for the swing bridge slowly opening in front of her.

1796.  H. Hunter, London (1811), II. 107. Raspberries, which are raised chiefly for the use of the distillers, and conveyed to London in *swing carts.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 697. A *swing chair, formed out of ten pieces of elder tree.

1900.  Elinor Glyn, Visits Elizabeth (1906), 18. She was lying in a swing chair, showing lots of petticoat and ankle.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 765. The use of the *swing door … is to prevent the door from ever being left open in severe weather.

1863.  Miss Braddon, J. Marchmont, I. i. 23. He was gone, and the swing-door slammed in Edward Arundel’s face.

1895.  P. Hemingway, Out of Egypt, I. i. 3. As the waiters pushed aside the swing-doors of the buffet.

1892.  Photogr. Ann., II. 884. The wide angle lens is attached to the *swing front ready for work.

1774.  Garton Inclos. Act, 5. No *swing-gates or other gates shall at any time be suffered.

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 143. In the construction of the swing-gate, the bars are so long, that too much weight is often thrown upon the hinges.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Squatter’s Dream, ix. 91. Mr. Stangrove … has no more idea of a swing-gate than a shearing-machine.

1809.  R. Langford, Introd. Trade, 81. A Dressing Table, and a *Swing Glass … £ 10s.

1847.  Disraeli, Tancred, II. vii. She threw a glance at her swing-glass.

1891.  Cent. Dict., *Swing-handle.

1896.  Jrnl. R. Horticult. Soc., Nov., 202. All fruit should be carefully placed in the basket (which is preferable lined or padded, and if with a swing-handle all the better).

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Swing-jack, a jack for replacing cars on the track; the bottom of the standard is a cylindrical segment, and has a toe working in a slot in the base of the jack. A pair are used, and the car being lifted while the standards are vertical, the latter are canted to or swung over, bringing the wheels of the car in line with the rails.

1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 595. The marker mn is another appendage to the [drill sowing-]machine…. It consists of the bar mm, and the marking-rod mn. The latter is *swing-jointed on a stud fixed in the ends of the marker-bar mm.

1733.  W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 309. The Foot Plough, the Kentish Brond-board Plough, the Creeper, and the *Swing Plough.

1807.  A. Young, Agric. Essex (1813), I. 127. In favour of the swing-plough it is contended that it is better calculated for fallowing, as the soil can be broken up to a greater depth.

1846.  McCulloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 147. The Scotch, or swing-plough, drawn by 2 horses driven by the ploughman.

1683.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1861/8. One Bay Gelding … Aged about four years, with a *Swi[n]g Tail lately cut off.

1865.  Hunt, Pop. Rom. W. Eng., I. 274. The squire … saw the old woman beating her step-daughter … about the head with the skirt of her swing-tail gown.

1609.  Blundevil, Art of Riding, I. xiii. D iv. Ouermuch spurringe wil make him *swing tailed, and speciallye if he be a Gennet, or Turkye horse, whose tayles be alwayes lose and at libertye.

1892.  Photogr. Ann., II. 466. A galvanised iron cistern … fitted with nickel-plated *swing tap.

1846.  Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 849. Various kinds of *swing tools, used by watchmakers in filing and polishing small flat works.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Swing-tool, a holder which swings on horizontal centers, so as to yield to unequal pressure and keep the plate flat against the face of the file.

1696.  Derham, Artif. Clockm., i. 4. The Crown-Wheel in Small pieces, and *Swing-Wheel in Royal Pendulums, is that Wheel which drives the Ballance, or Pendulum.

1826.  T. Reid, Clock & Watch Making, xii. 275. A spring, acting on the pin, brought the nib in a contrary direction, to act on the third wheel teeth, by which it gave motion to the swing-wheel during the time of winding.

1846.  Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 826. Balance-wheel or swing-wheel files, the convex side cut, the angular sides safe.

  b.  In designations of the swingle and swingletree used in dressing flax.

  (Cf. MHG. swinge-blok, swingletree, G. schwingstock, schwingbrett, schwingmesser.)

1825.  Jamieson, Cogster, the person who, in the act of swingling flax, first breaks it with a swing-bat, and then throws it to another.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 486. Two distinct pieces of apparatus belong to it [sc. winnowing of flax], namely, the swing-stock and the swing-knife.

  c.  Dynamics. In terms used by Clifford for various geometrical figures or lines having relation to the oscillation of a body, as swing-conic, -ellipse, -ellipsoid, -quadric, -radius.

1887.  W. K. Clifford, Elem. Dynamic, I. IV. 17. The second moment of an area in regard to any line, divided by the area itself, is the square of a length which is called the swing-radius of the area in regard to the line, or of the line in regard to the area. Ibid., 24, 34.