2. (nautical).—The points of a burgee.
3. (common).—A dress coat; a steel-pen coat (q.v.).
1886. Referee, 29 Aug. He is stripped of his swallow-tail and his pseudonym, and marched off to the guard-room again.
1888. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, 50. Here is one of the new police, with blue swallow-tail coat tightly buttoned, and white trousers.
1902. Lynch, Unseen Hand, i. He passed his hand caressingly over the lapel of an immaculate swallow-tail.
4. (? punning nonce-word).—A tongue always wagging.
1690. D'Urfey, Collins Walk, i. He'd tire your ear with pentagons . . . And all your outworks would assail With his eternal swallow's tail.
Swan. I swan, intj. (American).—'I
swear!' Also (more emphatically),
'I swan to man!'
1842. Clavers, Forest Life, 1. 29. 'Well, I swan!' exclaimed the mamma, giving a round box on the ear to a dirty little urchin.
1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2 S. i. But they du preach, I swan to man, it's puf'kly indescrib'le. Ibid. vi. I swan, You half forgit you've gut a body on.
1899. Westcott, David Harum, xiv. 'You c'n git round on your pins 'bout's lively's they make 'em, I guess, I swan,' he exclaimed.
Swank, verb. (public school).—To
work hard: cf. Swink.
Swanker = a hard-working student.
Swankey, subs. (common).—Any
weak tipple: spec. small beer.
Also (fishermen's) a mixture of
water, molasses, and vinegar.
Swannery. To keep a
swannery, verb. phr. (old).—To
boast of one's own doings,
possessions, etc.; to make out
that all one's geese are swans
(Grose).
Swan-slinger, subs. phr. (theatrical.—A
player fond of or
famous for Spouting Bill (q.v.);
a Shakspearean actor: the same
as 'slinging the Swan of Avon.'
Swap (or Swop), subs. (colloquial).—An
act of barter; an
exchange. As verb = to exchange;
to strike a bargain.
(B.E.) Grose [= 'Irish Cant.']
and Bee.
1360. Sir Gawayn [E.E.T.S]. 35. [Oliphant, New. Eng., 1. 58. The old swap gets the new sense of 'make an exchange.'
1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, v. 3. Soft, 'I'le not swap my father for all this.' . . . 'What, doe you thinke I'le be coz'ned of my father?'
1692. Dryden, Cleomenes. I would have swopp'd Youth for old age, and all my life behind, To have been then a momentary man.
1707. Ward, Hud. Red., 11. ii. 5. Those, who to preserve their Health, Had Swop'd their little Store of Wealth.
1724. Swift, Wood's Half-pence. A fine lady swapping her moles for the mange.
1781. Parker, View of Society, 11. 48. The hostler then says he has a choice nag or daisy-kicker to sell or swap.
1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, xxvi. For the pouther, I e'en changed it . . . for gin and brandy . . . a gude swap too.
1830. Cobbett, Rural Rides, (1886), 1. 199. It is barter, truck, change, dicker, as the Yankees call it, but as our horse jockies call it, swap, or chop.
1853. Reade, Gold, i. Carry out a cargo of pea-jackets and four-penny bits to swap for gold dust.
1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2 S. v. We'd better take maysures for shetting up shop, And put off our stock by a vendoo or swop.
1887. Eggleston, Graysons, x. Farmers frequented the town, to meet old friends and get the better of them in swapping horses.
1894. Baker, New Timothy, 187. Not even the greasy cards can stand against the attractions of a swap of horses, and these join the group.
