Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A wooden instrument used for beating flax and scraping from it the woody parts. Also swing-knife, swingle-staff, swingling-knife or -staff.
- n. That part of a flail which falls upon the grain in threshing; a swipple.
- n. A kind of spoke or lever, like the hand-spike of a capstan, used in turning the barrel in wire-drawing.
- n. One of the radiating arms by which the roller of a plate-press is turned.
- To clean, as flax, by beating and scraping with a swingle or swing-knife.
- To cut off the tops of without pulling up the roots, as weeds.
- To dangle; wave hanging.
- To swing for pleasure.
- v. to beat or flog, especially for extracting the fibres from flax stalks; to scutch
- n. An implement used to separate the fibres of flax by beating them; a scutch
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. obsolete To dangle; to wave hanging.
- v. Obs. or Prov. Eng. To swing for pleasure.
- v. To clean, as flax, by beating it with a swingle, so as to separate the coarse parts and the woody substance from it; to scutch.
- v. Prov. Eng. To beat off the tops of without pulling up the roots; -- said of weeds.
- n. A wooden instrument like a large knife, about two feet long, with one thin edge, used for beating and cleaning flax; a scutcher; -- called also
swingling knife, swingling staff, and swingling wand.
“There was a tow which came out when it was swingled, called swingle tow.”
“The strikes were swingled again, and from the refuse called swingle-tree hurds, coarse bagging could be spun and woven.”
“Yes, that's the first definition in my trusty Oxford: to scutch, swingle flax, hemp, etc.”
“Let me find my swingle tonight, I'm gonna beat you some more.”
“The swingle allows the pulling harness to follow the donkey's uneven movements when walking, as it moves one leg after another.”
“Both, swingle and evener are made of good, hard wood, which is both light and strong.”
“The evener has a similar function like the swingle, only it compensates the uneven movements and pull where more than one donkey is pulling a load.”
“There was cruel irony to the idea of a seven-year old imprisoned amidst single-swingle splendor, tucked away in a slum pocket on an aerie high above the high Pacific, and dosed up with Ritalin to appease the combined wishes of the Los Angeles school system, a dimwitted mother and M and M Properties.”
“When After it has been sufficiently broken, the small shivers must be swingled out, as we swingle Flax.”
“A swingle-tree hung at the pole's end, and a second pair of reins was fast to the driver's seat, the four cheek-buckles lying crossed over the wheeler's backs.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘swingle’.
N stands for 'nasal', not 'n'
The staff in its variety.
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