swing 
swing (swing), r.; pret. xiriimj or .wrung, pp. 
xirung, ppr. wringing. [< ME. xiringni, xiri/itgrn 
(pret. Hirang, pp. sieiuigi'ii, girinigeii), < Ais.miiig- 
(pret. swang, pp. swinigen), intr. fly, flutter, 3 
flap with the wings, tr. beat, dash, scourge, = 
US. swingan = OFries. xiringa = 1). wrini/cn = 
MLG. swingcn, fly, nutter, swing, throw, beat, 
scourge, = OHG. swingan, MHG. swingcn, G. 
xchwiiigen, swing, rise, soar, = Sw. swinga = 
Dan. sri0c, swing, whirl, = Goth, "swiggwan 
(indicated by the above forms, and by the deriv. 
"swaggwjan, in comp. vf-sieaggwjan); akin to 
MCI A-' and swank 1 , and perhaps ult. to sway, 
xirng. Hence swinge^, swingle^, etc.] I. in- 
trans. 1 . To move to and fro, as a body sus- 
pended from a fixed point or line of support ; 
vibrate ; oscillate. 
We thought it not amiss to try if a pendulum would 
tiring faster or continue luingtra longer in our receiver, 
in case of exhaustion of the air, than otherwise. 
Boyle, Spring of the Air, xrvi. 
In the towers I placed great bells that swung, 
Moved of themselves, with silver sound. 
Tennyson, Palace of Art. 
2. To move or oscillate in any plane about a 
fixed point or line of support : often with round : 
6114 
I chanced to see a year ago men at work . . . swinging 
a block of granite of the size of the largest of the Stone- 
henge columns with an ordinary derrick. 
Emerson, English Traits, xvi. 
Hence, to manage; control: as, to swing a 
large business. [Colloq.] 4. To move as if 
by swinging about an axis or fixed point ; cause 
to move in a way resembling in some degree the 
motion of a spoke of a wheel. 
By means of the railroad, troops can be tuning across 
from bay to bay as the exigencies of the war may require. 
Jour. Mil. Sen-ice Jnst., X. 588. 
5. To suspend so as to hang freely between 
points of support ; suspend freely. 
Fair the trellised vine-bunches 
Are mung across the high elm-trees. 
WUliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 864. 
6f. To pack, as herrings, in casks or barrels. 
Wee call it the siringing of herrings, when hee (we?) 
cade them. Stake, Lenten Stufle (llarl. .Misc., VI. 179> 
Hoisted and swung. See hoist. to swing a snip, to 
bring the ship's head to every point of the compass in suc- 
cession in order to ascertain the amount of local devia- 
tion or compass-error on each heading by comparing the 
apparent and true bearings of some distant object, To 
swing the base-line, to transfer a number of registered 
claims bodily to a fresh base-line. [Australia.] 
swinge 
6. In a lathe, the distance between the head- 
center and the bed or ways of the machine, 
this distance limiting the diameter of the work 
placed in the lathe : hence a lathe may be de- 
scribed as having a 6-inch swing, an 18-inch 
Siring, etc. In order to increase the swing, a gap or de- 
pression is sometimes made in the bed of a lathe, when 
the machine is called a gap-bed lathe. See lathel. 
7. In a carriage-wheel, the apparent cant or 
leaning outward of the upper half of the wheel ; 
the dish or dishing of the wheel. See dish,v. t.,2. 
8. The rope or chain reaching forward from 
the end of the tongue of a wagon along which 
a team in front of the wheelers is hitched by a 
swingletree. This team is said to be in tlieswing. 
Hence 9. The team so harnessed; in a six- 
horse or six-mule team, the pair of animals be- 
tween the wheelers and the leaders; also, the 
position of this pair of animals, or their rela- 
tion to the rest of the team. 10. In photog. : 
(a) A swing-back. (6) The motion or func- 
tion of a swing-back, including the single swing 
and the double swing. The single siring provides for a 
change of the vertical angle of the sensitive plate ; the dou- 
ble swing, in addition to the motion of the single swing, 
admits of a change in the horizontal angle. See swing- 
back. Y\H1 swing, (a) Same as siring, n., 4. 
nxea ponu or ime UL sujipui i. uiucu - ----- ^ - . , ,-~ wit*. --run BWIU&. \<*t w 
as, a gate swings on its hinges; the boom of swing (swing), n. (MB. siuiig, < .A*,, swmg, In t , at cnorag , MnR with which Englan 
low = OFries. mane = OHG. smn, MHOr. 
a vessel swings round. 
Fauns and Satyrs beat the ground 
In cadence, and Silenus nwang 
This way and that, with wild flowers crowned. 
. In t , at cnorag , MnR wit wc ngan g^- 
a blow, = OFries. mange = OHG. smng, MHOr. the daw ,f of thlB centurVi individuality had/ swing. 
o m ^ .,, o,,.,,, fl, ma l, fi-nm 
swine = Sw. Dan. sving, a swing, flourish; from 
the verb.] 1. The act of swinging; an oscilla- 
tion or vibration; the sweep of a body moving 
J. C. Shairp, Aspects of Poetry, p. 132. 
(6) With eager haste ; with violence and impetuosity : an 
elliptical quasi-adverbial use. In full swing, in full ope 
Wordsworth, Power of Sound, st. 10. j n SUS p en sion from or about a fixed support : ration or working ; in full blast. 
The gates swung backward at his shouted word. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 254. 
3. To move with a free swaying motion, as sol- 
diers on the march ; sometimes, to move with 
a bouncing motion. See swinging*, p. a. 
The boy, . . .with an indignant look and as much noise 
as he could make, swung out of the room. 
JKckens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. (i. 
They [the Prussian troops] swung along the road to Metz, 
across the grave-besprinkled plain of Mars-la- Tour and 
through the ensanguined gorge of Oravelotte. 
Lowe, Bismarck, II. 51. 
From another street swings in a truck piled high with 
ladders. Scribner's Mag., IX. 54. 
4. To move backward and forward on a sus- 
pended rope or on a seat suspended by ropes ; 
ride in a swing. 
On two near elms the slacken'd cord I hung, 
Now high, now low, my Blouzelinda swung. 
Gay, Shepherd's Week, Monday, 1. 104. 
5. NtiHt., to move or float round with the wind 
or tide, as a ship riding at a single anchor. 
A ship of Tyre was swinging nigh the shore. 
William Morru, Earthly Paradise, III. 5. 
6. To be hanged; be suspended by the neck 
till dead. [Colloq.] 
For this act 
Did Brownrigg siring. 
Poetry of Antijacobin, p. 7. (Daviett.) 
And now they tried the deed to hide ; 
For a little bird whisper'd, "Perchance you may siring." 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 229. 
Swinging substage. See substage. To swing around 
or round the circle, to make a complete circuit, as in 
going from place to place ; also, to veer about like a 
weathercock in one's opinions ; trim continually. [Col- 
loq.j 
After the trial began, the president [Andrew Johnson] 
made a tour through the northwest, which was called 
stringing round the circle, because in his speeches he 
declared that he had^wunjr around the entire circle of 
offices, from alderman to president. 
Appleton's Cyc. Amer. Ding., III. 439. 
To swing clear, to ride at anchor, as a vessel, without 
colliding with any object : often used figuratively. =Syn. 
1. Roll, etc. See rocW. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to sway or oscillate ; 
cause to vibrate, as a body suspended in the 
air ; cause to move backward and forward be- 
low or about a fixed point or line of support. 
They get on ropes, as you must have seen the children, 
and are swung by their men visitants. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 492. 
The pendulums were swung through six consecutive 
days and nights at each place. 
Amer. Jour. Set., 3d er., XL. 481. 
2. To support and move in some way resem- 
bling or suggesting the movement of a suspend- 
ed body, as a pendulum ; move freely through 
the air : used of a great variety of acts : as, to 
swing one's arms in walking ; to swing a club 
about one's head; to swing a stone with a 
crane. 
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared, 
Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, 
He tuning about his head and cut the winds. 
Shak., R. and J., i. 1. 118. 
T3o, baffled coward ! lest I run upon thee, . . . 
Or swing thee in the air, then dash thee down, 
To the hazard of thy brains and shatter'd sides. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 1240. 
used with much latitude and often figuratively. 
The ram that batters down the wall, 
For the great swing and rudeness of his poise, 
They place before his hand that made the engine. 
Shak., T. and C., I. 8. 207. swing . back ( sw ing'bak), -. 
All states have changes hurried with the strings 
Of chance and time, still riding to and fro. 
Quarles, Emblems, iii. 1. 
On the savage beast look'd he ; 
Her breath was strang, her hair was lang, 
And twisted was about the tree, 
And with a swing she came about. 
Kemp Owyne (Child's Ballads, 1. 144). 
A bitter politician, ... he [W. Hazlitt] smote with the 
same unexpected siring of his flail Tory, Whig, Radical, 
Reformer, Utopianist, Benthamite, Churchman, Dissenter, 
Free-thinker. Bulwer, CJiarles Lamb. 
2. A free or swinging movement or gait: often sw in'g'Lbe'am '(sw'iug'"rJ'em),~B! 
used figuratively. bolster. 
He made up the Cowgate at a rapid siring; he had for- swing-boat (swing'bot), n. A boat-shaped car- 
And in the reign of Henry's son, when every kind of 
alteration, alienation, and sacrilege was in .full swing, 
Latimer became the Jeremiah of the Reformation. 
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., ii. 
, , In a photographic 
camera, a device, varying in its details, where- 
by the back of the camera, which carries the 
ground glass and the sensitized plate on which 
the picture is taken, can be made to oscillate 
and then be fixed in a desired position. Its chief 
object is to admit of bringing the plate more nearly into 
parallelism with the object to be photographed than can 
often be accomplished without this device, the result be- 
ing a better focus, and the avoidance of exaggerated con- 
vergence of parallel lines, such as occurs in the picture 
when the camera must be tilted to take in objects placed 
much above or much below it See swing, n., 10 (b). 
Same as swing- 
gotten some engagement. 
Dr. 
The composition is distinguished by the true Rubensian 
siring and emphatic movement. 
Athenarum, No. 3247, p. 90. 
In the Shepherd's Calender we have, for the first time in 
the century, the siring, the command, the varied resources 
of the real poet. "' '"- " " 
riage slung from a frame, swinging in which is 
a favorite amusement with young people at 
fairs, etc. 
All the caravans and swing-boats, and what not, used to 
assemble there. 
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor, III. 107. 
3. A line or cord, suspended and hanging loose, 
on which something may swing or oscillate; 
especially, a seat slung by a rope or ropes, the 
ends of which are fastened to points of sup- 
R. W. Church, Spenser, ii. 8W i n g_l,olster (swing'boFster), n. A truck- 
Ancient Swing, from a Greek red-figured hydria of the 
4th century B. C., found at Nola. 
port at the same distance above the ground, 
between which the seat hangs freely, used in 
the sport of swinging backward and forward. 
Swings are also made in which strips of wood 
take the place of the rope. 
Some set up swings in the street, and get money of those 
who will swing in them. Dampier, Voyages, an. 1688. 
4. Free course; abandonment to any motive; 
one's own way; unrestrained liberty or license. 
Ha' you done yet? take your whole swing of anger; 
111 bear all with content 
Beau, and PL, Little French Lawyer, ii. 3. 
Let them have their siring that affect to be terribly sin- 
gular. 0. Harvey, Four Letters. 
The man who . . . desired to thrust the world aside 
and take his siring of indulgence uninterrupted and un- 
checked. Godwin, Fleetwood, vii. 
6. Unrestrained tendency; natural bent: as, 
the swing of propensities. 
Were it not for these, civil governments were not able 
to stand before the prevailing siring of corrupt nature, 
which would know no honesty but advantage. Smith. 
bolster which bears on springs that are sup- 
ported by a transverse timber called a spring- 
plank, which is suspended by hangers or links, 
so that it can swing laterally to the truck : so 
called in distinction from a rigid bolster. Car- 
Builder's IHct. See cut under car-truck. 
swing-bridge (swing'brij), n. A bridge that 
may be moved aside by swinging (either as a 
whole or in sections), so as to afford passage 
for ships on a river or a canal, at the mouth of 
docks, or the like. See cuts under bridge and 
castle. 
swing-churn (swing'chern), n. A form of box- 
churn slung in a frame and worked by swing- 
ing. 
swing-devil (swing'dev"!), H. A local name of 
the swift, a bird. See swift, n., 4. 
swinge 1 (swing), v. t. ; pret. and pp. swinged, 
ppr. swingeing. [Formerly, sometimes, swindge; 
< ME. sieetigen, < AS. swengan (= OFries. swen- 
ga), shake, toss, causal of swingan, swing, beat : 
see swing. Swinge (< AS. swengan} is related 
to swing (< AS. swingan), as singe (< AS. sent/an) 
is related to sing (< AS. singan).~\ 1. To beat; 
strike; whip; of persons, to chastise; punish. 
Once he smng'd me till my bones did ake. 
Greene, Oeorge-a-Greene. 
Be not too bold ; for, if you be, I'll simnge you, 
I'll siringe you monstrously, without all pity. 
Fletcher, Wit without Money, iv. 5. 
Walpole, late secretary of war, is to be twinged for 
bribery. Su-tft, Journal to Stella, xxxix. 
2f. To move, as a lash; lash; swing. 
The Lion rowz'd, and ruffles-vp his Crest, . . . 
Then often sirindging, with his sinnewy train, 
Somtimes his sides, somtimes the dusty Plain, 
He whets his rage. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6. 
And, wroth to see his kingdom fail, 
Sirindaes the scaly horrour of his folded tail. 
Millnii, Tide, Nativity, 1. 172. 
