Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to work extremely hard, esp. on the eve of examinations or tests; orig. only applied to mathematics; thus swot up v., to learn something specific in an intense way; thus swotting n., intense study; swotty adj.

1850		(con. early 19C) N&Q 1 Ser. 23 369/2: It happened one hot summer’s day, nearly half a century ago [...] He [i.e. William Wallace] took out his handkerchief, rubbed his head and forehead violently, and exclaimed in his Perthshire dialect, – ‘It maks one swot.’ This was a godsend to the ‘gentlemen cadets,’ wishing to achieve a notoriety as wits and slangsters, and mathematics generally ever after became swot, and mathematicians swots.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 252: swot [...] to work hard for an examination, to be diligent in one’s studies. ? Army. This word originated at the great slang manufactory for the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in the broad Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one of the Professors, of the word sweat.
1888		S.O. Addy Sheffield Gloss. 249: Swot, to read hard.
1898		Kipling ‘Stalky’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 22: We shall be swottin’ dumb-bells, though. All your fault.
1908		Magnet 29 Feb. 3: He saw that Harry had been ‘swotting’ at Latin.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Oct. 47/2: I must get into a quiet place and swat up mensuration, trigonometry, and a few dry subjects of that sort. [...] I settled down to hard study.
1912		A. Brazil Fourth Form Friendship 118: ‘I know what it is to swat hard,’ wrote Keith.
1915		R.P. Hamilton diary 9 Jan. 🌐 Can’t make up my mind to swot. Must really try.
1926		Kipling ‘Propagation of Knowledge’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 233: ‘I expect they’ve been swottin,’ Beetle grinned.
1934		J. Franklyn This Gutter Life 199: I’ve got to swot like the devil, I’m taking my final this year.
1949		P. Pringle Boy’s Book of Cricket 69: You should be a detective instead of swotting up for a research chemist.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 243: I thought I’d swot up a bit on it before I left.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 199: ‘Swotting’ or ‘mugging up’ is only considered good form if a person is on the point of taking an exam.
1967		M. Frayn Towards the End of Morning (2000) 109: Once you start swotting there’s no end to it. That’s what put me off studying.
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 24: I’m glad you had a chance to swot up the guest list.
1991		R. Doyle Van (1998) 372: Veronica was swotting up in Sharon’s room.
1999		Eve. Standard 4 June 54: We also swot up decompression tables.
2001		Guardian G2 31 May 7: I was very swotty in English at school and very rubbish at everything else.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 188: Ah’d [...] ask some swotty kid tae photocopy their notes.