Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK juv.) to cane; thus swishing n., a caning; swisher n., a stroke with a cane [the sound of the cane].

1856		Thackeray Character Sketches 88: I pity that young nobleman’s or gentleman’s case: Dr. Wordsworth and assistants would swish that error out of him in a way that need not here be mentioned.
1859		J. Payn Foster Bros. 131: ‘It don’t hurt,’ wrote Master Adolphus to his father [...] ‘half so much as the cane did at Harfield; and as for the shame of a swishing, that, at all events, is nothing at all after the first time’.
1863		G.A. Sala Three young Guardsmen 93/1: He knocked under to that old mummy of a chap with the pigtail just as though he were a school-boy fraid of a swishing!
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1871		Cornhill Mag. Dec. 707: ‘I must say I shouldn't like to funk a swishing as you seem to do,’ sneered Jickling, with diabolical derision. ‘I don’t funk a swishing,’ I protested, blushing up to the roots of my hair. ‘Then you funk a licking’.
a.1876		M. Collins Thoughts in my Garden 220: He has been known to argue with the head-master as to whether he ought to be swished .
1882		‘F. Anstey’ Vice Versa (1931) 196: It’s good for a swishing, that is.
1890		J. Payn Notes from ‘News’ 169: Flogging, or, as it is called at Eton, ‘swishing,’ is to be abolished.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 78: Both Larkhall and mysefl were ‘swished’ before the holidays.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 401: The young man, recently ‘swished’ at Marlborough.
1913		M. Baring Lost Diaries 8: Mac reported him for telling bungs. He wasn’t swished as its his first term.
1922		(con. 1900s) S. Leslie Oppidan 38: His success at swishing Lower Boys seldom failed to draw blood.
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 15: Few slang expressions are used of birching as distinct from caning (seecake), but the following may be noted: swish [...] Swipe and swish were and are also used of caning in many schools.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 401: ‘Six of the best’ or ‘Six swishers’.

2. of a man, to act in an effeminate manner; thus swishing n. [SE swish, to move with a swish].

1942		‘Private Maxie Reporting’ in A. Bérubé Coming Out Under Fire (1990) 91: We’ve got glamor and that’s no lie; / Can’t you tell when we swish by? / Isn’t it campy? Isn’t it campy?
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 246: We were solicited by gay boys around Henry’s, also Erv’s, on Pine, and saw swishing at Uncle John’s.
1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 90: The waiter swished away from the table.
1975		J. Carr Bad (1995) 155: Covington was a white-headed old homo, kicking the shit out of seventy and acting like he was twenty, swishing around saying, ‘My dear’.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 136: Bow Tie [...] swished off up the corridor.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 135: These guys swish on in the room and stand there la-di-da.
1996		L. Pettiway Honey, Honey, Miss Thang 201: I learned how to swish. So I was like swishing, honey.
1998		R. Scott Rebecca’s Dict. of Queer Sl. 🌐 swish — 1) (adj) effeminate and flamboyant 2) (verb) to act or move effeminately or flamboyantly.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 148: The driver swished out. The driver swished and swung sacks.
2014		(con. 1926) T. McCauley ‘For Whom No Bells Toll’ in ThugLit Mar. [ebook] ‘I never swish, my friend [...] I swagger and often stagger, but never, ever swish’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 111: We swished to the hatch, shedding feathers like pogi plumes of intoxicating smoke.

3. (N.Z. prison) to hit, to punch.

1982

G. Newbold Big Huey 254: swish (v) Punch, strike.