subs. (colloquial).—Bent; a free ‘hand’ or course: e.g., TO HAVE (or TAKE) ONE’S SWING (or FULL SWING) = to do as one likes. Also TO SWING (a matter) OVER ONE’S HEAD, SHOULDERS, etc. = to manage easily; TO SWING A BUSINESS (MARKET, PRICES, etc.) = to control; to manage.
1530. TYNDALE, Works [Parker Society], i. 530. The sect [of heretics] goeth now in her FULL SWING. Ibid., ii. 219. The devil hath a great SWING among us.
1542. EDWARD HALL, Henry VIII., f. 5. And there for a certayne space loytred and lurked with Sir Thomas Broughton knyght, whiche in those quarters bare great SWYNGE, and was there in great aucthoritie.
1559. T. SACKVILLE, Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates, 260. That whilom here bare SWINGE AMONG the best.
1592. G. HARVEY, Four Letters. Let them have their SWING that affect to be terribly singular.
1620. FLETCHER, The Little French Lawyer, ii. 2.
| Din. Ha’ you done yet? take your whole SWING of anger; | |
| I’ll bear all with content. |
1601. A. DENT, The Plaine Mans Path-way to Heaven, 57. If they will needes follow their lusts, their pleasures, and their owne SWINGE: yet in the end he will bring them to iudgement.
1698. FARQUHAR, Love and a Bottle, ii. 3. The fellow will have his SWING though he hang for’t.
1805. GODWIN, Fleetwood, vii. To thrust the world aside and take his SWING of indulgence.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 267. It was my full determination … to take my SWING about town, and look at men and manners a little.
1837. BULWER-LYTTON, Maltravers, IV. ix. Your time is up … you have had your SWING.
1877–85. R. W. DIXON, History of the Church of England, ii. Sacrilege was in FULL SWING.
1881. J. C. SHAIRP, Aspects of Poetry, v. 132. In the great chorus of song with which England greeted the dawn of this century, individuality had FULL SWING.
Verb. (common).—1. To hang; see LADDER. Hence, THE SWING = the gallows: see NUBBING CHEAT (GROSE).
1542. UDALL, The Apophthegmes of Erasmus [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 486.] ‘Among the verbs are to gossip … SWING in a halter, take his heels,’ etc.
1801. Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin (4th ed.), 7.
| For this act | |
| Did Brownrigg SWING. Harsh laws! But time shall come | |
| When France shall reign, and laws be all repeal’d! |
1836. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, ‘The Drunkard’s Death.’ If I ’m caught I shall SWING; that ’s certain.
1837. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, I. 229.
| And now they tried the deed to hide; | |
| For a little bird whisper’d, ‘Perchance you may SWING.’ | |
| Ibid. ‘The Execution.’ | |
| But to see a man SWING At the end of a string, | |
| With his neck in a noose, will be quite a new thing. |
1887. W. E. HENLEY and R. L. STEVENSON, Deacon Brodie, iv. And is he thundering well corpsed?… Then, damme, I don’t mind SWINGING.
TO SWING THE MONKEY, verb. phr. (nautical).—See quot.
1883. W. C. RUSSELL, Sailors’ Language, s.v. SWING THE MONKEY … striking with knotted handkerchiefs a man who swings to a rope made fast aloft. The person the ‘monkey’ strikes whilst swinging takes his place.
