Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) the prison gallows.

1965		T. Capote In Cold Blood 295: He intended taking every step possible to avoid ‘a ride on the Big Swing.’.
1999		Morning Sun (Pittsburg, KS) 3 July n.p.: More than four decades after the last murderer rode the Big Swing, prison officials are nearing completion of a death chamber that will be used when the state gets back into the execution business.

a general threat.

1837		Annual Reg. Jan. 11/1: No, I would sooner die for it, I would swing for it first.
1843		Southern Qly Rev. July 90: Take him away; if he crosses my path again I’ll kill him, even if the next moment I swing for it upon that gallows.
1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 21 Oct. 3/2: He hoped ere long to have the felicity of swinging for her.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 358: Phil determined, ‘if he swung for it,’ to make Lucy Grant change her name to Lucy Vautrin before she was a month older.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1878		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 4 May 3/4: [headline] Butchering his Wife and Hacking his own Throat / ‘i’ll swing for you’.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 229: ‘I’d give him the length uv id, as sure as God made Moses.’ ‘And swing for it,’ said Father Hannigan.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Oct. 32/2: Once when he went to try an’ make it up with her she threatened to get him into the logs. He admits he fell-in over her, an’ swears he’ll swing for her.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 25: I’ll swing before that ’appens.
1922		‘Sapper’ Black Gang 357: You’ve trapped me you — swine. I’ll get even with you over this if I swing for it!
1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 46: We’re going to get this money if we swing for it!
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: I’ll swing for that ration corporal one of these days.
1962		K. Waterhouse There is a Happy Land (1964) 147: I’ll break every bone in his bloody body! I will! I’ll swing for him!
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 139: ‘I’ll swing for you yet,’ said Algernon. ‘Mind it ain’t from your old school tie,’ I said.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘Strained Relations’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] If I hear another nautical yarn I’ll swing for him!
1993		R. Doyle Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha 206: I’ll swing for you.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 281: A lot of the old hold-me-back I’ll-swing-for-the-fuckin-cunt business.
2009		T. Black Gutted 2: There’s a phrase, hear it all the time, I’ll swing for you...

(US) to try and fail.

1953

‘John Monahan’ [W.R. Burnett] Big Stan 95: ‘O.K.,’ Joe said. ‘Laugh. I don’t mind. I’ve swung and I’ve missed before’.

to be hanged.

1542		Udall (trans.) Erasmus’ Apophthegms in Oliphant New Eng. i 486: Among the verbs are to gossip... swing in a halter, take his heels [F&H].
1598		Florio Worlde of Wordes n.p.: TANTARARE, to swing in a halter.
c.1654		letter in J. Rogers Life and Opinions of a Fifth-monarchy-man (1867) 153: Saying they hoped to see me dance in a rope and swing in a halter, calling us Hypocrites, Liers, Deceivers.
1757		C. Arnold ‘Antigallican Song’ in Poems on Several Occasions 206: As for those Poltroons, howe’er high their Station; / Who, as Cowards - or Knaves, - embarrass the Nation; / Who Fighting avoid, - or when Fighting do run; / Let them swing in a Halter, or die by a Gun.
1833		Annals of Crime 31 246/1: As for telling your fortune, I’ll be so plainly with you, that you’ll swing in a halter as sure as your name is Sawney Cunningham.
1852		J.D. Lang Freedom and Independence for [...] Australia 49: For I am not to be trusted, and have cheated him to an amount that he could have made me swing in a halter for.
1877		North-Eastern Dly Gaz. 9 June 3/3: ‘You wouldn’t like to swing in a halter, would you, Sol?’‘I vouldn’t swing in a halter for killing you ven you were trying to rob me’.
1908		Pubs Navy Records Soc. 33 321: But if to sea I go again, I’d sooner swing in a halter, / Before I'd sail in any ship commanded by Mickey Walker.

(mainly Aus./N.Z.) to deceive, to impose on, to do a bad turn.

1914		Ade ‘The New Fable of the Speedy Sprite’ in Ade’s Fables 28: Once a year the Ladies [...] swung on their Gentlemen Friends for enough Dough to pay the Vacation Expenses of Neglected Wives and Kiddies.
1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 44: ‘Swinging it on the fucking rookies, they are, the old sweats,’ grumbled Tug.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 1188/1: C.20 [...] mostly Aus.
1945		N. Marsh Died in the Wool (1963) 234: ‘You’re trying to swing one across me.’ ‘No.’.
1963		B. Naughton Alfie I ii: ’Ere, you ain’t comin’ it on me, are you— trying to swing it? [...] swing the old ’filiation order—two nicker a week until he’s sixteen.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 205: swing one across To deceive somebody. Mid C20.

(Aus.) to prevaricate with, to refuse to commit.

1938

X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 371: He’s been swingin’ me off for a week. It’s only when I asked Bill Wrench that I got the strong of the sod.

(US) to steal.

1952		W.R. Burnett Vanity Row 130: ‘We even took all her evening dresses. [...] I think the boys swung with some of the jewelry, too’.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 45: Some boob left it on his front lawn. So I swung with it.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 343: You didn’t swing with that gold did you, old man?
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 102: Quick, baby, the woman saw you swing.
1972		(con. 1950s) D. Goines Whoreson 122: There was nothing above the counter I could swing with.

see under daddy n.

(orig. US) an orgy, esp. when the participants are husband-and-wife swapping couples.

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1187: [...] since ca. 1955.
1993		Orange Coast Mag. Sep. 62: The undercurrent of potential sex clearly differentiates a swing party from, say, your average Elks club mixer.
2004		K. Curtis American Males' Guide on How to Get More Pussy 66: Clothing particularly adapted for swing party wear [...] robes, lingerie, terry cloth wrap-arounds and other simple wear that is easily removed.
2008		I. Anupindi Trip to India 81: I told her that I had heard about the swing party after 1990 when I was doing a small research project for a professor in Delhi. I explained to her that at that time it was too difficult for me to find a swing party group.
2011		N. Felts Explore Express Expand 44: A swing party is a party where a group of like minded adults get together with the purpose of cuming.

to practise bisexuality.

1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 212: Joe Ballantine swings. Bryan is a fag.
1974		E. Wilson Show Business Laid Bare 320: ‘If you swing both ways, you really swing,’she said. ‘I just figure, you know, double your pleasure’.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 25: Miriam’s easy; she swings either way.
1985		K. Vacha Quiet Fire 124: I think most actors do swing both ways.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] Tommy is a steamer, though that’s not strictly true, because he swings both ways.
1999		J. Stahl Perv (2001) 286: He’s bi as the day is long. They all are. Mick Jagger swings three-sixty.
2001		Drunk Girls Homepage 4 Oct. 🌐 Floyd does Lynette Kerry swing both ways or bat for the other team?, her pictures seem to indicate the latter.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] ‘She’s so hot she’d make me turn.’ ‘Don’t you already swing both ways?’.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 40: Blew the whole jubilee Gang [...] Went hame n licked the missus oot tae prove thit eh swing baith weys.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 64: Burt [Lancaster] swings both ways.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 4568: Jibbering, both-way-swinging, reprogramming, reverse-servo-lathering [...] Raymond Novak Experience.

(UK black) to fight.

2020

G. Krauze What They Was 55: I tell him we can swing it out right now.

(US black teen) to have oral sex.

(US) to be a homosexual.

1978

R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 229: So my man here swung to the left.

1. to associate with [may be SE swing, i.e. on buses or other public transport].

[1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 98: Shadow him: swing and rattle with him no matter where he goes].
1959		E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 16: They were talking about the Speed Demons now. ‘You belong?’ she asked him. ‘Swing with them?’.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 175: If he wanted to get into the street life, he had to start swinging with somebody who was already into it.
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 21: Cheri’s breakin’ his balls [...] She started swingin’ with Mott.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 67: Shell Shock, who started swinging with the fellas an me when we got to high school.

2. to have a relationship with, to have sex with.

1967		W. Murray Sweet Ride 25: Vickie swung with Denny [...] She was his piece of meat.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 220: I hear you been swingin’ with my woman.
2004		J. McCourt ‘Vilja de Tanquay Exults’ in Queer Street X298: Not that / I imagine you’d have swung for mum, but swung / For – swung on – dad.

3. to ally oneself to a group, or individual, to agree with a concept.

1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 37: Thanks for swinging with me, baby. Lots of appreciation.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 34: Had things been different on the home front, he would have swung with this development.
2001		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 11: SWING – agree with or comply with.

4. to enjoy, to appreciate.

1964		J. Blake letter 1 July in Joint (1972) 234: I just don’t swing with respectable people, they’re all murderers.
1968		T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1969) 64: Kesey loved this Low Rent stuff. He was ready to swing with it.

(US black) a successful party.

1937

A.E. Duckett ‘Truckin ’round Brooklyn’ in N.Y. Age 10 Apr. 7/1: The little swing-dinger the Chrysalis kidlets gave [...] at Minnie Abel’s Clubhouse.

a drug dealer.

1952		Lannoy & Masterson ‘Teen-age Hophead Jargon’ AS XXVII:1 29: SEE THE SWING-MAN, phr. To meet with a drug peddler.
1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).

see separate entry.

a hog.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

1. (Aus.) a to work as a bookmaker.

1937

Cairns Post 10 July 4/4: Bookmaking and boxing does not mix, says Fred Henneberry, former middleweight champion of Australia, who has been swinging a bag in Sydney for some months.

2. (Aus.) to work as a street-walker.

1953

Baker Aus. Speaks.

(orig. US) to visit.

1984		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1996		(con. 1946) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 49: Why don’t you swing by Nick Stefanos’s grill, say in about an hour.
2000		G.V. Higgins At End of Day (2001) 190: Hon, I think I might swing ’round Flynn’s Spa a couple hours.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 26: We’re in the area. I’ll swing by and settle up.
2008		G. Pelecanos Way Home (2009) 131: I’ll swing by and get you, same time as usual.
2012		C. Stella Rough Riders 187: We’ll [...] swing by the hotel and pick you up.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 23: Ah’ll swing by later.
2021		P Howard Braywatch 29: I decide to swing by just for the laugh.

to aim at/for.

1960

‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 17: Yet Brutus was swinging for the moon.

(US) to arrive.

1960

‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 7: The day that the All Hip Mahatma swung in on the scene, The Lion was into that supply cupboard shoulder high.

(US) overly anxious to please.

1944

P. Kendall Service Sl.

robbery with violence.

1861

H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor IV 329/1: Other robberies are perpetrated by brutal violence with a life-preserver or bludgeon [...] This is termed ‘swinging the stick’ or the ‘bludgeon business’.

1. see sense 3 above.

2. see sense 10 above.

3. see swing the lead

see under like sixty adv.

the seventh drink of a session, supposedly the very last one has before leaving the pub.

1938

Sun. Dispatch (London) 3 July n.p.: Publand [...] first round is known as ‘one’, second as ‘the other half’, third as ‘same again’, fourth as ‘a final’, fifth as ‘one for the road’, sixth as ‘a binder’, and seventh as ‘swing o’ the door’ [DSUE].

1. (US black) to attach oneself; to enter a vehicle .

1884

J. Harrison ‘Negro English’ in Anglia VII 265: To swing on = to attach oneself to, to get in (a vehicle).

2. in fig. use, to talk forcefully.

1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 129: ‘[I] fergives him anyt’ing he ever done to me an’ even stands fer it w’en he swung on me fer a case note’.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 91: I’m sorry [...] I didn’t mean to swing on you like that.

3. (US) to hit or punch.

1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 130: I had to swing on her right from my heel every two or three days.
1935		W. Smith Bessie Cotter 108: Did he swing on you again?
1953		Kramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs 22: Unless I get a chance to swing on somebody I figure myself punking out.
1966		H.S. Thompson Hell’s Angels (1967) 276: You could take a drink with Miles without wondering if he was going to swing on somebody.
1999		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2008		in J. Miller Getting Played 105: ‘If they try to break up a fight, you might have a student that’ll be bold enough to just swing on a teacher’.

4. (Aus., also swing on to) to keep, to take.

1968

S. Gore Holy Smoke 62: Why shouldn’t we swing on to all the dough for ourselves, and bugger his Lordship!

(US) to act arrogantly, overbearingly.

2021

S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 22: ‘[You] swing your dick around you like you the cock of the walk’.

see separate entry.

see under bag n.¹

see sling the billy under sling v.

see under cuff n.²

(US black) to accept that much of life is a matter of luck and to live it accordingly.

1994

C. Major Juba to Jive.

(Aus.) to work hard, to do well, to win in a contest.

1910		Glen Innes Examiner NSW) 7 June 4/1: There are several other fast shearers on the board, but Mr. Zimmerlie ‘swings the gate’ .
1925		Brisbane Courier 3 Jan. 20/3: ‘Who swung the gate’ at the Blow Blow when you were there, and who ‘dragged the chain,’ are phrases which convey no meaning to the uninitiated. Well, the man that shears the most sheep in a shed is the man who ‘swings the gate,’ and the man that shears the least is the man that ‘dragged the chain.’.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 28 June 9/7: Come on blokes, let’s swing that gate, the time has come to nominate [i.e. for a ‘glammer gal’ competition].
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 240/1: swing the gate – work willingly.

1. to malinger, to avoid one’s duties.

1917		W. Muir Observations of Orderly 222: When I went sick the doctor thought he’d rumbled me swinging the lead.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 Sept. 4/2: ‘Summer’ is a Boer war veteran, cunning, and the owner of a tongue that could raise blisters on the desert. He had ‘swung it’ often in Australia, and when, at length, he arrived at Moascar he lost no time in reporting sick.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 348: Swinging it/Swinging the Lead. Malingering.
1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 146: Swinging the lead so cunningly that the long spell [i.e. of P.T.] took little out of us.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 114: Hammer, To Swing The: To malinger.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 51: ‘‘Hullo, Geordie, they got you at last?’ ‘Couldn’t swing it no longer, Bill?’.
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 109: I knew he had dozens of ‘swinging the lead’ cases.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 88: ‘What is Skiving?’ ‘The same as Swinging It. Trying to get out of things.’.
1944		in A. Marshall These Are My People (1957) 145: If you are workin’ where there’s a woman you always want to humour her and never swing the lead when she’s about.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 52: If it is going to make you happy to swing, go on and swing.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 20: When I went for my medical in the war they [eyes] were A1, but I swung the lead and got off 3C.
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 54: She’s swinging the lead – sick headache!
1974		Galton & Simpson ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ Steptoe and Son [TV script] harold: Are you sure he’s not swinging the lead? doctor: Quite sure. He’s in great pain.
1980		Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 96: Anyone who fails to pull his weight [...] ‘swings the lead’.

2. to brag, to boast.

1915		Lichfield Mercury 4 May 5/2: Swinging the Lead—This is the equivalent of the civilian expression, ‘Telling the tale’.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 1188/2: from ca. 1919.