subs. (common).—A term of the utmost contempt. Hence SWINISH (B. E.) = ‘greedy, gluttonous, covetous.’
1597. SHAKESPEARE, Richard III., v. 2. 10.
| This foul SWINE | |
| Lies now even in the centre of this isle, | |
| Near to the town of Leicester. [The boar was Richard’s cognisance.] |
1889. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 4 Jan. ’Aint that the SWINE of a snob that rushed me at Battersea?
1899. R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, ix. ‘Git out, yer silly SWINE,’ is the maiden’s reply.
1903. BART KENNEDY, A Sailor Tramp, II. iii. Sailor, it looks as if we were done for…. That SWINE’ll surely make us get off.
PHRASES and PROVERBIAL SAYINGS. ‘Like a SWINE, never good until he come to the knife’ (of a covetous person); TO SING LIKE A BIRD CALLED A SWINE = to grunt (RAY); TO CAST PEARLS BEFORE SWINE (of unappreciated action or effort).
