swilling

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swill

(swĭl)

v. swilled, swill·ing, swills

v.tr.

a. To drink greedily or grossly: "Unshaven horsemen swill the great wines of the Chateaux" (W.H. Auden).

b. To follow the ingestion of (food, for example) with the ingestion of a liquid: swilled down the pretzels with soda.

a. To flood with water, as for washing or rinsing: swilled out the glass.

b. To swirl (a liquid) around in a container or in one's mouth: swilled the wine in the glass before sniffing.

3. To feed (animals) with swill.

v.intr.

To drink greedily or to excess.

1. A mixture of liquid and solid food, such as table scraps, fed to animals, especially pigs; slop.

2. Liquor or other alcohol of poor quality: I won't drink this swill.

3. A swig or gulp of a drink.

[Middle English swilen, to wash out, from Old English swilian; see swel- in Indo-European roots.]

swill′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

swilling - the drinking of large mouthfuls rapidly

guzzling, gulping

drinking, imbibing, imbibition - the act of consuming liquids

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References in classic literature ?

But I persevered, and used my body in the way Nature intended it should be used--not bending over a desk and swilling whiskey...

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"It would take a clever man to live upon thy labor, Hugh," remarked one of the foresters, "seeing that the half of thy time is spent in swilling mead at the `Pied Merlin.'"

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But, I perfectly remember that I sat swilling tea until my whole nervous system, if I had had any in those days, must have gone by the board.

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He wrinkled his nose in a puzzled way at the dishes offered to him by the waiter but refused none, devouring the food with a great appetite and drinking ("swilling" Fyne called it) gallons of ginger beer, which was procured for him (in stone bottles) at his request.

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It would be nice if any right-thinking organisation with monies swilling around in their coffers would like to settle ALL costs incurred in allowing them to go about their business, rather than leave it for the ordinary citizen to have to pay.

Can't club pay full total? [...]

Atlanta, GA, June 10, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Private Bank of Buckhead, which includes Private Bank of Decatur and PrivatePlus Mortgage, has added Eric Swilling, as Assistant Vice President, Credit Administration.

Credit Administration Pro Added to Private Bank of Decatur Team

I have watched both editions and have seen the unemployed portrayed as lazy, indolent and criminal, either swilling beer or smoking a joint, where shoplifting is seen as a career move and selling dodgy Big Issues a smart ruse.

Jobless people aren't like that

On Saturday I stood outside of a baby shower in Rahway, New Jersey swilling a St.

St. ides malt liquor

Senior staff are enjoying the perks of a new three-year deal for the lavish Suite H at Court One - where they are dining on salmon and swilling champagne at a free bar before games.

BANK PERK FURY

So into whose pockets has all that moolah which was happily swilling around a few short months ago disappeared?

Governments are so short of the readies

Swilling, a military policeman with the 3rd Infantry Division's 293rd MP Company, has seen the war go from invasion to insurgency to surge to relative calm.

Holiday war stories

Not only did we have to put up with the beer swilling louts, but people down at the front of the audit orium stood up right through the concert and the stewards made no attempt to make them sit down.