swill

English

Etymology

From Middle English swilen (“to wash; swirl; wash away”), from Old English swillan, swilian (“to wash; wash down; swill; gargle”). Related to English swallow.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swɪl/
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Noun

swill (plural swills)

1. a mixture of solid and liquid food scraps fed to pigs etc; especially kitchen waste for this purpose
2. any disgusting or distasteful liquid

   I cannot believe anyone could drink this swill.

3. anything disgusting or worthless

   This new TV show is a worthless load of swill.

   • 2017 March 27, “The Observer view on triggering article 50”, in The Observer^[1]:

     They have helped foster a corrosive, mean-spirited, angry and divisive atmosphere that May and her lieutenants are too weak to challenge. Into this swill comes Leave financier-in-chief, Arron Banks, who last week announced he was setting up a “Patriotic Alliance” to attempt to unseat 100 Remain-supporting MPs.

4. a large quantity of liquid drunk at one swallow

   He took a swill of his drink and tried to think of words.

5. Inexpensive beer
6. (Ultimate Frisbee) A badly-thrown pass

Translations

mixture of solid and liquid food scraps

• Czech: pomeje pl
• Dutch: slobber m
• Finnish: sianruoka
• French: soupe (fr)
• Greek: ξεπλύματα (el) n pl (xeplýmata)
• Hungarian: moslék (hu)

• Macedonian: помија f (pómija)
• Portuguese:

  (Brazil): lavagem (pt)

• Russian: помои (ru) (pomoi)
• Spanish: tichate m, bazofia (es) f

any disgusting or distasteful liquid

• Dutch: bocht (nl)
• Finnish: hevosenkusi
• Greek: ξέπλυμα (el) n (xéplyma)

• Italian: brodaglia f
• Macedonian: помија f (pómija)
• Russian: помои (ru) (pomoi)

anything disgusting or worthless

• Finnish: paska (fi)
• Greek: ξέπλυμα (el) n (xéplyma)

• Hungarian: mosogatólé

large quantity of liquid drunk at one swallow

• Finnish: hörppy (fi)

Verb

swill (third-person singular simple present swills, present participle swilling, simple past and past participle swilled)

1. to eat or drink greedily or to excess
   • Smollett

     Well-dressed people, of both sexes, […] devouring sliced beef, and swilling pork, and punch, and cider.

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 8

     If you can give me no more than twenty-five shillings, I'm sure I'm not going to buy you pork-pie to stuff, after you've swilled a bellyful of beer.

2. to wash something by flooding with water
   • Shakespeare

     As fearfully as doth a galled rock / O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, / Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean.

3. to inebriate; to fill with drink.
   • Milton

     I should be loth / To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence / Of such late wassailers.

4. to feed pigs swill
   • 1921, Nephi Anderson, Dorian Chapter 8

     "Carlia, have you swilled the pigs?"

Anagrams

• Wills, wills