subs. (colloquial).—A deep draught: also as verb = to drink heartily. (B. E. and GROSE); TO PULL hard (q.v.) Hence SWIGGLED = drunk: see SCREWED.
1623. MABBE, The Spanish Rogue (1630), ii. 208 [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, ii. 82. Bale’s swink (bibere) becomes SWIGGE].
1627. MIDDLETON and ROWLEY, The Changeling, iv. 2. But one SWIG more, sweet madam.
c. 1650. Roxburgh Ballads [Brit. Mus., C. 20, f. 8. 236], ‘The Jolly Welsh Woman.’
| Now while hur had gotten the jugg at her snout, | |
| And being both lusty, courageous and stout, | |
| Hur gave it a tug, ’till hur SWIGG’D it half out. |
c. 1670. Old English Ballads [Brit. Mus., C. 22, e. 2. 43]. ‘Dead and Alive.’ He never left off SWIGGING till he had suckt all out.
d. 1701. CREECH, Virgil, ‘Eclogues,’ iii.
| The Flock is drain’d, the Lambkins SWIGG the Teat, | |
| But find no moisture, and then idly bleat. |
1706. WARD, The Wooden World Dissected, 38. Not but that he can fight, and that very heartily too, after a lusty SWIG at the Brandy.
1772. BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 246.
| When my landlord does not nick me … | |
| But very fairly fills it full, | |
| I just can SWIGG it at one pull. |
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, 39.
| The Hero, that sits there, | |
| SWIGGING Blue Ruin, in that chair. |
1835. MARRYAT, Pacha Many Tales, ‘English Sailor.’ The sailor having taken a SWIG at the bottle.
1838. WILLIAM WATTS (‘Lucian Redivivus’), Paradise Lost, 19. Half-cocked with SWIGGING ale and beer.
1851. HAWTHORNE, The House of the Seven Gables, xi. The jolly toper SWIGGED lustily at his bottle.
1885. Harper’s Magazine, lxxi. July, 192. Take a little lunch, sur le pouce, and a ‘SWIG’ of whiskey and water.
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, xi. I buy a ha’porth of bread, take a SWIG at a fountain, and tramp the East End parks to kill time.
