swingle
/ˈswɪŋɡ(ə)l
/noun
1A wooden tool for beating flax and removing the woody parts from it.When the flax is sufficiently watered it is taken out of the pond and beaten by an implement called a swingle.
2The swinging part of a flail.A flail is a simple device made up from two pieces of wood a handle or staff about five feet long and a swingle that is about two feet long....
- The handle of the flail was raised until the swingle was shoulder high and then brought down firmly.
- The swingle, half as long as the handle, strikes the grain.
verb [with object]
Beat (flax) with a swingle: I found a group of bare-armed women under the trees swingling flax...
- When it ripened it had to be pulled, cured, seeded, swingled, spun and woven, all by hand, before it was ready to be made into wearing apparel.
- After this comes the scutching, or swingling, which is done by chopping with dull knives on a block of wood to take out the small pieces of bark which may still be sticking to the fiber.
- These were then separately swingled, spun and woven.
Origin
Middle English: from Middle Dutch swinghel, from the base of the verb swing.
Rhymes
- bewdy
- be well away
- be well in with
- be well out of
- be well rid of
- be (well) up on (or in)
- bewhiskered
- Bewick's swan
- Bewick, Thomas
- bewigged
- bewilder
- bewildered
- bewilderedly
- bewildering
- bewilderingly
- bewilderment
- be wise after the event
- bewitch
- bewitcher
- bewitchingly
- bewitchment
- be with someone
- be worth one's weight in gold
- be wrapped up in
- be wreathed in smiles