swingle
/ˈswɪŋ(ɡ)əl/
swingle noun: an implement used to separate the fibres of flax by beating them; a scutch.
Noun
swingle (plural swingles)
- An implement used to separate the fibres of flax by beating them; a scutch.
- The swinging part of a flail, especially that which is used on the grain in threshing; the swipple.
- The pole of the Chinese flail is roughly 90 cm. long, the swingle about 30 cm. in length, joined to the pole by a wooden axle projecting at right-angles from the top of the swingle and passing through a loop at the top of the pole[…]1984 April 19, Joseph Needham, Francesca Bray, Science and Civilisation in China, Part 2, Agriculture, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 357
- (A flail swingle was a large wooden handle attached to a freeswinging stick, which was used in threshing grain.)2004, Elizabeth Hafkin Pleck, Domestic Tyranny: The Making of American Social Policy Against Family Violence from Colonial Times to the Present, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 27
Verb (1)
swingle (third-person singular simple present swingles, present participle swingling, simple past and past participle swingled)
- To beat or flog, especially for extracting the fibres from flax stalks; to scutch.
- Now after you have swingled your Hempe and Flaxe ouer once, you shall take and shake up the refuse stuffe, which you beate from the same seuerally, and not only it, but the tops and knots, and halfe brak't buns which fall from the brake also, and drying them againe cause them to bee very well...1623, Gervase Markham, Country Contentments, or The approued Booke called the English Hous-wife, page 168
- The instruments necessary to swingle flax are, a tressel, and a swingle.1764, Duhamel du Monceau, The Elements of Agriculture - Volume 2, page 174
Verb (2)
swingle (third-person singular simple present swingles, present participle swingling, simple past and past participle swingled)
Proper noun capitalized: Swingle
Swingle (plural Swingles)
- A surname.
Examples of swingle in a sentence
- The first operation in dressing flax is to swingle or beat it, in order to detach it from the harle or skimps.1858, John Harland, editor, The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster:
- For hearing is a sense made blunt by fright; But then their ears were flushed, and burned and tingled, As if they'd been by some sharp weapon swingled.1867, Horatius Flaccus, The Vision of Judgment: Or The South Church:
- Later she “spread, rotted, broke, swingled, and hacked” the weeds, twisting together several strands of fiber, and she used these strands to weave a frail fabric on a home-built loom.2021, Helen D. Irvin, Women in Kentucky:
Forms of swingle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | swingles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | swingles |
| present participle | swingling |
| past participle | swingled |
| past | swingled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Swingles |
Origin of swingle
The noun is from Middle English swingel, from Old English swingel, swingelle (“whip, scourge”), equivalent to swing + -le. Related to Middle Dutch swingel, swengel, Dutch zwingel, zwengel. Doublet of swingel. The verb is from Middle English swingelen, from the noun. Related to Middle Dutch swingelen, swengelen.
From swing + -le (frequentative suffix).
Words formed from swingle
Phrases with swingle
Words that rhyme with swingle
Questions about swingle
- What does swingle mean?
- Swingle means an implement used to separate the fibres of flax by beating them; a scutch.
- How do you use swingle in a sentence?
- The first operation in dressing flax is to swingle or beat it, in order to detach it from the harle or skimps.
- What part of speech is swingle?
- Swingle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce swingle?
- Swingle is pronounced /ˈswɪŋ(ɡ)əl/.
- What is the plural of swingle?
- The plural of swingle is swingles.
Words near swingle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swingle (page history and authors); Swingle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “swingle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swingle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.