v. dial. [Imitative.] intr. = SWATTER v. 1. So Switter-swatter adv. (imitative of the sound made by ducks splashing in water).
1694. Urquhart’s Rabelais, I. xxi. 78. The total Welfare of our humidity doth not depend upon drinking, switter, swatter [ed. 1653 in a rible rable; orig. à tas, à tas] like Ducks.
a. 1800[?]. Bonnie Milldams of Binnorie, xi., in Child, Ballads (1882), I. 129/2. Aye she swittert, and aye she swam, Till she cam to yon bonnie mill-dam. [Cf. quot. a. 1800[?] s.v. SWATTER v. 1.]
