[? Native name.] A native mortar of West Africa. Also attrib.
1863. R. F. Burton, W. Africa, II. 240. The town is filled with deep holes, from which the sand mixed with swish for walls has been dug. Ibid. (1879), El-Medinah, xiii. (ed. 3), 174. He sees a plain like swish-work [ed. 1855 tamp-work], where knobs of granite act daisies.
1881. Standard, 12 Nov., 5/1. The ‘swish’ used in ordinary houses is simply red earth worked up with water until it thus acquires a certain degree of tenacity.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 113. The swish huts of the Effiks.
