swingingn.
/ˈswɪŋɪŋ/ The action of swing v.1† 1. Beating, scourging. Obsolete.
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society > authority > punishment > corporal punishment > [noun] > beating
swingingc1200
beating?c1225
chastising1303
correctionc1386
lashingc1400
scouring1426
Moses' law1482
jerking1552
whipping1566
yarking1573
feaking1600
correct1606
tawing1620
lacing1622
castigation1640
basking1642
verberation1661
strappado1668
the lash1694
flogging1758
whopping1812
quilting1822
blistering1842
whaling1852
nailing1895
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 57 We shulen leden al þis leinten on festing..on smerte swinginge & on oðre swiche gode dedes.
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter xxxi. 13 Eftere þe bridel comes þe swyngynge for to teme him þat is wilde.
2. Flourishing, waving about.
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the world > movement > motion in specific manner > [noun] > flourishing or brandishing
brandishingc1440
swingling?c1450
swingingc1540
c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 12526 Hym-seluyn in the sea sonkyn belyue, Swalprit & swam with swyngyng of armys.
1897 Daily News 27 May 2/5 Club Swinging... The well-known swinger of Indian clubs, brought his attempt to swing a pair of two pound clubs for thirty consecutive hours to a successful conclusion.
3.
a.
(a) Movement to and fro, as of a suspended body; oscillation, swaying, etc.: see the verb.
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the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > oscillation > [noun] > swinging or oscillation of suspended body
babbling1440
swing1589
vibration1668
swinging1669
vibrating1743
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. vii. xxxiii. 48 It will strike what Hour of the Day or Night it is, and then leave off striking, and swinging also.
1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 331 A low man cannot pull the handle of the Bar at so great a force..as a tall man; but will require the swinging of his whole body backwards to add force to the Pull.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 99 I have suffered more from jolting and swinging than ever I felt in the whole course of my life, although the carriage is remarkably..well hung.
1817 P. B. Shelley Mont Blanc ii, in Hist. Six Weeks' Tour 176 Thy giant brood of pines..in whose devotion The chainless winds still come..their mighty swinging To hear.
1849 G. P. R. James Woodman I. ix. 170 Neither was any sound heard, except the swinging of the great bell.
1869 A. J. Evans Vashti xxxiii. 454 The peculiar, free, childish swinging of the left arm.
(b) See swing v.1 6 (b).
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society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > penance > [noun] > among Hindus
swinging1793
swing1852
1793 Medical Spectator II. No. 39. 242 A few days after this, came on the annual custom of swinging.
1793 Medical Spectator II. No. 39. 246 Some who have got marks of the wounds made on their backs by the swinging-hooks.
1857 Lady Canning in Hare Story Two Noble Lives (1893) II. 284 Dr. Duff says the swinging festival went off very mildly this year.
b. The sport of riding in a swing. Also attributive.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > other amusements or entertainments > [noun]
swinging1610
shuggie-shue1653
bilboquet1743
kite-flying1804
cup and ball1836
kittly-benders1854
cakewalk1863
mudlarking1888
pogo1921
pogoing1921
yo-yo1932
waterball1950
laugher1973
karaoke1977
bouncy castle1986
paintball1987
bouncing castle1988
paintballing1989
zorbing1996
1610 J. Healey tr. J. L. Vives in tr. St. Augustine Citie of God xviii. xix. 698 These swinging-games had originall from hence [sc. Italy].
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 93 Their husbands are very glad to give them this kind of sport, and sometimes help them in their swinging.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. iii. vii. 300 Come to-morrow, and swing Sophy—no nice swinging since you've been gone.
4. slang or colloquial. Hanging. Also attributive.
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society > authority > punishment > capital punishment > hanging > [noun]
hanginga1300
hangmentc1440
gallows1483
gibbet1502
Tyburn checka1529
Tyburn stretch1573
caudle of hempseed1588
hempen caudle1588
swinging1591
rope law1592
rope-leap1611
cording1619
turn1631
nubbing1673
cravatting1683
gibbetation1689
topping1699
Tyburn jig1699
noosing1819
scragging1819
Tyburn tie1828
Newgate hornpipe1829
dance upon nothing1841
drop1887
suspension1909
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Columpio Swinging in a halter.
1879 R. Browning Ned Bratts in Idyls I. 95 I think he pulled a face, next Sessions' swinging-time!
1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island ii. xi. 86 They [sc. gentlemen of fortune] risk swinging.
5. Indulgence in sexual promiscuity; spec. engaging in group sex or the exchanging of sexual partners. slang.
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society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > sexual indulgence > promiscuity
promiscuousness1676
promiscuity1847
swinging1964
tomming1981
zipper problem1985
1964 W. & J. Breedlove Swap Clubs i. 37 We will on occasion utilize ‘swinger’ and ‘swinging’ to describe the advocate of sexual partner exchange and the exercising of that practice.
1967 W. Breedlove & J. Breedlove Swinging Set v. 65 The act of prostitution is separate from ‘swinging’.
1970 E. M. Brecher Sex Researchers ix. 250 What happened during the 1960's was that group sex in public—swinging—emerged from the brothels and became an established though minor feature of American urban and suburban life.
1973 New Society 24 May 437/1 ‘Swinging’ is extra-marital sex by both spouses, at the same time and usually in the same place.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1919; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
swingingadj.
That swings.
1. figurative.1915 J. Kelman Salted with Fire xii. 180 The devious and swinging balance of power with which diplomacy has hitherto concerned itself.
a. Moving to and fro as or like a suspended body; oscillating; swaying.
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the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > oscillation > [adjective] > swinging
swinginga1560
pendulous1706
a1560 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Nyne Fyrst Bks. Eneidos (1562) x. sig. Ddivv He swam with swinging sides.
1716 J. Gay Trivia i. 11 But when the swinging signs your Ears offend With creaking Noise, then rainy Floods impend.
1803 in W. Scott Minstrelsy Sc. Border (ed. 2) III. 388 The drawbridge falls—..Clatters each plank and swinging chain.
1816 P. B. Shelley Alastor 39 A pine,..stretched athwart the vacancy Its swinging boughs.
1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. § 662 Swinging cribs and cradles are now justly exploded.
1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton King Arthur v. xcix With lifted cross and swinging censer.
1900 A. Conan Doyle Green Flag 127 He punched the swinging ball and worked with the dumb-bells.
b. Of a blow: characterized or accompanied by a swing of the arm, etc.
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the world > movement > impact > striking > striking in specific manner > [adjective] > swinging
swinging1850
swipy1852
1850 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. III. 1190 The toothed saws for stone are used with a swinging stroke.
1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner xxx. 320 Von Holzen ran at him with his arm outstretched for a swinging stab.
1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail vi. 48 He saw his opening and let out with a swinging pivot blow.
2. Turning or adapted to turn freely in either direction upon a fixed axis or centre, as a gate or door, a hinged piece of mechanism, etc.; in technical use = swing- comb. form (see also Compounds).
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the world > space > direction > [adjective] > turning or able to face any direction > swivelling
swinging1730
swing-jointed1844
swivelling1869
pivotable1894
1730 Inv. D. Bond's Goods (1732) 34 A square Walnut~tree Table and Swinging Glass.
1868 C. B. Norton & W. J. Valentine Rep. to Govt. U.S. on Munitions of War at Paris Universal Exhib. 1867 51 Mr. Joslyn's rifle, calibre 0·500, has a swinging breech-piece of a peculiar pattern.
1879 Man. Siege & Garrison Artillery Exercises 71 The butt of the swinging derrick is made fast to the upright spar.
1885 M. Collins Prettiest Woman in Warsaw I. x. 168 He opened the swinging door for her.
1904 Windsor Mag. Jan. 300/2 The girl turned about on the swinging stool where she sat.
3.
a. Applied to a steady vigorous rhythmical onward movement (pace, step, etc.) accompanied, or such as is commonly accompanied, by a swaying from side to side; hence used of a rhythm in verse or music suggesting such a movement.
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the world > movement > progressive motion > specific manner of progressive motion > [adjective] > rhythmically
swing-1809
swinging1819
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > proportion of notes or rhythm > [adjective] > type of rhythm
well-modulated1721
zoppa1740
bright1872
polymetric1878
swinging1884
ragtime1896
ragtimey1901
polymetrical1908
foot-tapping1915
toe-tapping1929
swingy1933
sewing machine1934
rocking1935
ricky-tick1939
raggedy1949
ricky-ticky1949
beaty1956
square1958
polymetred1966
head-nodding1967
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhythm > [adjective] > lilting or swinging
lilting1800
swinging1884
1819 W. Scott Bride of Lammermoor viii*, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. II. 182 Onwards they came at a long swinging trot.
1881 G. M. Fenn Off to Wilds viii The boy pressed his horse's sides, and went off at a swinging canter.
1884 J. G. Rogers in Congregationalist Feb. 104 These swinging congregational melodies.
1887 Westm. Rev. June 380 A long swinging dactylic measure in rhyming couplets.
1902 J. Buchan Watcher by Threshold i. 76 I heard a long swinging step outside.
b. Music. Applied to a musician who plays jazz with swing; also, to the music itself. Cf. swing n.2 10b.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > [adjective] > style of performing
ad libitum1786
extempore1795
ad lib1825
improvisational1871
magadized1901
jazzed1917
jazzified1920
stomping1927
in the (or a) groove1932
stodgy1934
groovy1937
swinging1955
riffing1960
Muzaked1962
funkified1974
noodly1981
widdly1984
scratch-mix1987
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > jazz > [adjective] > types of
Chicagoan1861
bad1897
hot1918
red-hot1918
soft1921
low-down1922
sweet1924
barrel-house1926
New Orleans1926
straight1926
crazy1927
dirty1927
hotcha1930
jungle1935
solid1935
traditional jazz1935
powerhouse1937
gutty1939
riffy1939
jivey1944
Kansas City1946
cool1948
West Coast1949
far-out1954
nutty1955
swinging1955
mainstream1957
Afro-Latin1958
1955 in A. J. McCarthy Jazzbook 1955 31 It has been satisfying to witness the renewed success within the past two years of Count Basie's orchestra, as the swinging spearhead of coloured jazz.
1956 ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues xxiii. 209 They were the swingingest cats I ever heard.
1958 K. Goodwin in P. Gammond Decca Bk. of Jazz xiii. 153 Mel Lewis—..easily the most swinging drummer ever to work with the Kenton band.
c. Uninhibited, ignoring conventions; lively and up to date: applied to persons, places ( swinging London), etc., and spec. to the 1960s ( swinging Sixties). Also, as a general term of approval: fine, splendid, ‘great’ (temporarily contrasted with dodgy). colloquial.
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the mind > attention and judgement > fashionableness > [adjective]
in (also into) request?1574
bonfacion1584
fashional?1607
of request1613
fashionablea1627
à la mode1642
all the mode1651
modish1661
in mode1664
timeish1676
of vogue1678
voguea1695
mody1701
alamodic1753
much the mode1767
tonish1778
go1784
stylish1800
bang-up1810
tippy1810
varmint1823
up to the knocker1844
gyvera1866
OK1869
fly1879
swagger1879
doggy1885
faddy1885
fantoosh1920
voguish1927
voguey1928
à la page1930
go1937
hard1938
hip1939
down1952
swinging1958
a-go-go1960
way-in1960
yé-yé1960
trendy1962
with-it1962
go-go1963
happening1965
mod1965
funky1967
together1968
fash1977
cred1987
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective]
faireOE
bremea1000
goodlyOE
goodfulc1275
noblec1300
pricec1300
specialc1325
gentlec1330
fine?c1335
singulara1340
thrivena1350
thriven and throa1350
gaya1375
properc1380
before-passinga1382
daintiful1393
principala1398
gradelya1400
burlyc1400
daintyc1400
thrivingc1400
voundec1400
virtuousc1425
hathelc1440
curiousc1475
singlerc1500
beautiful1502
rare?a1534
gallant1539
eximious1547
jolly1548
egregious?c1550
jellyc1560
goodlike1562
brawc1565
of worth1576
brave?1577
surprising1580
finger-licking1584
admirablea1586
excellinga1586
ambrosial1598
sublimated1603
excellent1604
valiant1604
fabulous1609
pure1609
starryc1610
topgallant1613
lovely1614
soaringa1616
twanging1616
preclarent1623
primea1637
prestantious1638
splendid1644
sterling1647
licking1648
spankinga1666
rattling1690
tearing1693
famous1695
capital1713
yrare1737
pure and —1742
daisy1757
immense1762
elegant1764
super-extra1774
trimming1778
grand1781
gallows1789
budgeree1793
crack1793
dandy1794
first rate1799
smick-smack1802
severe1805
neat1806
swell1810
stamming1814
divine1818
great1818
slap-up1823
slapping1825
high-grade1826
supernacular1828
heavenly1831
jam-up1832
slick1833
rip-roaring1834
boss1836
lummy1838
flash1840
slap1840
tall1840
high-graded1841
awful1843
way up1843
exalting1844
hot1845
ripsnorting1846
clipping1848
stupendous1848
stunning1849
raving1850
shrewd1851
jammy1853
slashing1854
rip-staving1856
ripping1858
screaming1859
up to dick1863
nifty1865
premier cru1866
slap-bang1866
clinking1868
marvellous1868
rorty1868
terrific1871
spiffing1872
all wool and a yard wide1882
gorgeous1883
nailing1883
stellar1883
gaudy1884
fizzing1885
réussi1885
ding-dong1887
jim-dandy1888
extra-special1889
yum-yum1890
out of sight1891
outasight1893
smooth1893
corking1895
large1895
super1895
hot dog1896
to die for1898
yummy1899
deevy1900
peachy1900
hi1901
v.g.1901
v.h.c.1901
divvy1903
doozy1903
game ball1905
goodo1905
bosker1906
crackerjack1910
smashinga1911
jake1914
keen1914
posh1914
bobby-dazzling1915
juicy1916
pie on1916
jakeloo1919
snodger1919
whizz-bang1920
wicked1920
four-star1921
wow1921
Rolls-Royce1922
whizz-bang1922
wizard1922
barry1923
nummy1923
ripe1923
shrieking1926
crazy1927
righteous1930
marvy1932
cool1933
plenty1933
brahmaa1935
smoking1934
solid1935
mellow1936
groovy1937
tough1937
bottler1938
fantastic1938
readyc1938
ridge1938
super-duper1938
extraordinaire1940
rumpty1940
sharp1940
dodger1941
grouse1941
perfecto1941
pipperoo1945
real gone1946
bosting1947
supersonic1947
whizzo1948
neato1951
peachy-keen1951
ridgey-dite1953
ridgy-didge1953
top1953
whizzing1953
badass1955
wild1955
belting1956
magic1956
bitching1957
swinging1958
ridiculous1959
a treat1959
fab1961
bad-assed1962
uptight1962
diggish1963
cracker1964
marv1964
radical1964
bakgat1965
unreal1965
pearly1966
together1968
safe1970
bad1971
brilliant1971
fabby1971
schmick1972
butt-kicking1973
ripper1973
Tiffany1973
bodacious1976
rad1976
kif1978
awesome1979
death1979
killer1979
fly1980
shiok1980
stonking1980
brill1981
dope1981
to die1982
mint1982
epic1983
kicking1983
fabbo1984
mega1985
ill1986
posho1989
pukka1991
lovely jubbly1992
awesomesauce2001
nang2002
bess2006
amazeballs2009
boasty2009
daebak2009
beaut2013
1958 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxx. 47 Swingin', the highest term of approval. May be applied to anything a jazzman likes, or any person.
1959 Manch. Guardian 25 June 8/7 [She] informed him that she wants a large place ‘in a swinging part of town’..so he is looking around in Chelsea and Knightsbridge.
1962 J. Baldwin Another Country (1963) ii. iii. 299 ‘You feeling all right?’.. ‘He's going to feel just swinging.’
1964 N. Vaughan in T.V. World 24 Sept. 48 When people ask me how I feel about the months ahead, I tell them: ‘Sometimes it's a bit dodgy, but most of the time it's swinging!’
1965 Weekend Tel. 16 Apr. p. xii/2 Diana Vreeland..editor of Vogue..has said simply ‘London is the most swinging city in the world at the moment’.
1966 Time 15 Apr. 11/3 I know this world, this swinging London... But I wouldn't describe myself as a swinger.
1967 Listener 19 Jan. 107/1 He does not fit into the Zeitgeist of the swinging 'sixties.
1967 F. Mullally Prizewinner iii. 41 The swinging London Percy had read so much about.
1971 H. Wilson Labour Govt. xxxvii. 766 The press publicized what they called the new swinging style of the Downing Street receptions.
1976 P. Cave High Flying Birds iii. 25 Young people from all over the world—draft-evading Americans, poker-faced Germans, swinging Swedes and the comic-clown Dutch.
1980 M. Sellers Leonardo & Others x. 56 Zuleika lived life to the full. She was a product of the swinging sixties.
1982 S. Brett Murder Unprompted v. 51 The British film industry..was committed to making zany films about Swinging London.
d. Of or relating to a person who engages in promiscuous sexual activity (esp. group sex or the swapping of sexual partners). slang.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [adjective] > promiscuous
harlotry1579
light o' love1589
trolloping1701
promiscuous1804
wutless1853
slutty1912
make-out1949
slack1951
swinging1964
bed-hopping1979
bonking1987
1964 W. & J. Breedlove Swap Clubs ii. 43 A ‘swinging couple’.
1978 Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Apr. 6/2 ‘Swinging couples’ are no longer addicted to square dancing but to the less innocuous pastime of wife-swapping.
Compounds
Special collocations or combinations:
swinging-bar n. = swing-bar n. at swing- comb. form 2a.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > building and constructing equipment > fastenings > [noun] > pin or peg > on which anything turns > that which turns on
swing-bar1844
swing-beam1857
swinging-bar1859
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany xi. 188 To the end of the pole is attached a swinging-bar and a pair of traces for a leader.
swinging-boom n. Nautical a boom swung or suspended over the ship's side, used to stretch the foot of a lower studding-sail, and (when at anchor) for a boat to ride by.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > spar > [noun] > pole controlling position of sail > types of
portlof1432
outligger1481
bumkin?c1613
driver-boom1750
ringtail-boom1769
spanker-boom1813
swinging-boom1840
jackyard1862
whisker pole1954
wishbone1984
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xi. 83 Bracing the yards forward so that the swinging-boom nearly touched the sprit-sail yard.
swinging-bridge n. (a) see quot. 1892; (b) = swing-bridge n. at swing- comb. form 2a.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge > swing-bridge
swinging-bridge1708
swivel-bridge1754
turn-bridge1767
swing-bridge1791
pivot bridge1795
turning bridge1840
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel for transporting people or goods > [noun] > ferry > types of
toni1582
horse-boat1591
bac1676
ferry bridge1696
rope-ferry1755
pont1776
ferry flat1805
steam-ferry1812
steam ferry-boat1812
night boat1839
bar-boat1857
train ferry-boat1867
car ferry1884
grind1889
swinging-bridge1892
train ferry1900
night ferry1948
SeaCat1954
walla-walla1957
1708 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (Boston Registry Dept.) (1883) VIII. 52 The way leading from Madam Butlers Corner..to the Swinging Bridg.
1892 G. Philips Text Bk. Fortif. Sandhurst (ed. 5) 244 Flying or Swinging Bridges.—A flying bridge is one in which the action of the current is made to move a boat, or raft of two piers, across a stream, by acting obliquely against its side.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 23 Nov. 5/3 The city of Cleveland, Ohio,..desired to convert the viaduct-bridge over the Cuyahoga River into a swinging-bridge.
Categories »
swinging-tree n. dialect = swingletree n.
Derivatives
ˈswingingly adv. with swinging movement.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > oscillation > [adverb] > swaying
swalingly1822
swayingly1854
a-sway1858
swingingly1882
weavingly1945
1882 ‘A. Thomas’ Allerton Towers II. vi. 105 A long, lithe, lean-headed mare,..with action so swingingly easy..that her rider never swerves by a hair's-breadth in the saddle.
1891 Murray's Mag. 10 662 To strut swingingly up the Cathedral to the Dean's pew.
Draft additions September 2008
swinging dick n. slang a man; spec. (more fully big swinging dick) a successful, arrogant, ambitious, or aggressively bold man (also occasionally used of a woman); cf. dick n.1 4a.
ΚΠ
1957 J. Blake Let. 7 Feb. in Joint (1971) 165 I know you have, ain't a swingin' dick in the country escaped it.
1967 M. Braly On the Yard 75 There ain't a swinging dick in the camp that could do me harm and you know it.
1980 Washington Post 24 Feb. b2/1 The young troopers were ‘every swinging dick’.
1989 M. Lewis Liar's Poker iii. 46 If he could make millions of dollars come out of those phones, he became that most revered of all species: a Big Swinging Dick.
1992 Independent (Nexis) 30 July 10 The ‘big swinging dicks’ who strut around the City charging seven-figure fees.
1994 L. Davies Nest of Vipers (1995) 91 He dangled her trading limit before her, willing her to show him what a big swinging dick she was by using it to the full.
2003 Esquire July 90/1 Myth, genius, all that, but still just another swinging dick—a wealthy man, growing old alone.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1919; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
> see also
also refers to : swingeingswingingn.
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n.c1200adj.a1560see also
- accordatura
- accorded
- accorder
- accorders
- according
- according after one's mind
- according as
- according to
- according to a person's expectation
- according to a person's expectations
- according to cocker
- according to contract
- according to expectation
- according to expectations
- according to hoyle
- according to my etc tell
- according to my his tell
- according to my tell
- according to one's light
- according to one's lights
- according to one's mind
- according to plan
- according to rule
- according to script
- according to the imitation of