swill

1 of 2

verb

swilled; swilling; swills

transitive verb

1
2
: to drink great drafts of : guzzle
swill beer
3
: to feed (an animal, such as a pig) with swill

intransitive verb

1
: to drink or eat freely, greedily, or to excess
2
: swash
swiller noun

swill

2 of 2

noun

1
: something suggestive of slop or garbage : refuse
2
a
: a semiliquid food for animals (such as swine) composed of edible refuse mixed with water or skimmed or sour milk
b

Examples of swill in a Sentence

Verb She watched the water swill around in the bucket. He swilled the water around in the pot. He swilled the floor with buckets of water. Noun took his daily swill of the foul-tasting medicine I don't know what's in this swill, but I know that I'm not eating it.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
The dynamic was palpable last week, as Vladimir V. Putin casually announced plans to run for six more years as president of Russia, swilling champagne and bragging about the increasing competence of Russia’s military. Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 13 Dec. 2023 Donning a cropped black wig and always swilling a martini, Johansson fit perfectly in Anderson’s Americana milieu. Matt Donnelly, Variety, 23 May 2023 In the main room, people swilled beers and looked at some of the photos from the book, which had been printed and framed. Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2023 In his acceptance speech by video, Michael Hardy — who records as simply Hardy — shotgunned a can of beer, sharing a remote toast to his fellow winners while the music-industry attendees and recipients swilled wine and other drinks from the free bar. Neil Pond, Variety, 2 Mar. 2023 Those who can afford to own a G550 should have deep enough pockets to cover its propensity to swill gasoline. Eric Stafford, Car and Driver, 19 Jan. 2023 Gurnah seems to swill the word in his mouth before spitting it out. Nadifa Mohamed, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022 Benny joins a troupe of Neil Gaiman-esque outcasts who swill vodka, shoot heroin and revere the words of the philosopher Walter Benjamin. Mary Ann Gwinn, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2021 Soccer, at its rarefied heights, is awash with it: broadcasting deals and sponsorship agreements and corporate entertainment, all of it swilling through leagues and clubs, into the hands of players and executives and agents. Rory Smith, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2020
Noun
Near the cap, each jug had a single loop big enough for one finger to slip in—not ergonomic, but perfect for tilting it up to your mouth for a quick swill. Sam Stone, Bon Appétit, 20 Dec. 2023 Clearing forests for farmland pushed a bat species to the forest edge, where pig farmers had set up; bats settled in trees over the pig pens and contaminated the swill the pigs were fed; pigs got sick and were culled; humans picked up the infection from their pigs, then died. Maryn McKenna, Wired, 2 Dec. 2020 Most people pay little attention to the swill of microscopic bugs inside us. Troy Farah, Discover Magazine, 3 Mar. 2022 Zoo officials swill announce the winning names on November 9. Yenny Sanchez, CNN, 6 Nov. 2022 That year was an oasis in the larger two decades of swill, too. Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 20 Sep. 2022 In modern times, retsina has gotten a bad rap as cheap swill with overpowering notes of turpentine and paint thinner. Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 Aug. 2022 One of them is the nightly swill served up on Fox News. Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post, 17 May 2022 Quickly forget any bottle outside of this narrow range—anything cheaper is non-potable swill; anything more expensive, and the wine is too nice ever to drink. Nate Odenkirk, The New Yorker, 6 May 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'swill.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English swilen, from Old English swillan

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun

1553, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of swill was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near swill

Cite this Entry

“Swill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swill. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

swill

1 of 2 verb
1
: drench
2
: to drink or eat greedily
3
: to feed (as a pig) with swill
swiller noun

swill

2 of 2 noun
1
: food for animals (as pigs) made from scraps of food mixed with water or skimmed or sour milk
2
3

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