Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a general intensifier, e.g. swinging fellow, a very large man; swinging lie, an outrageous lie.

1594		Greene Frier Bacon and Frier Bungay H3: Haue you not good tipling houses there, may not a man haue a lustie fier there, a pot of good ale, a paire of cardes, a swinging peece of chalke, and a browne toast?
1624		Fletcher Rule a Wife IV iii: A swinging storm will sing you such a lullaby.
1659		Greene & Lodge Lady Alimony I i: He pores so fixtly upon the ground, as on my life he has some swinging stuff for our fresh Dabrides.
1679		‘Colin’ in Wilson Court Satires of the Restoration (1976) 26: Nor was our monarch such a cully / To bear a Moor and swinging bully.
1682		A. Radcliffe ‘The Ramble’ Poems 100: At last you got a swinging Clap.
1688		T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia I i: I have designed for you a fine young lady with a swinging fortune.
1694		J. Crowne Married Beau I i: A swinging Beauty!
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Swinging Clap/Lye/Fellow a very great one.
1702		S. Centlivre Beau’s Duel III i: He’ll make a swinging Jointure.
1709		Cibber Rival Fools III i: Lawd! if she’s such a Fury now, what a swinging Witch will she make when she’s an old Woman?
1712		J. Arbuthnot Hist. of John Bull 23: A good swinging sum of John’s readiest cash.
1733		C. Coffey Boarding-School 40: I’ll dog ’em, and then go and inform my Lady; which, with some swinging Lye or other, may once reinstate me in her Favour, and procure me better Rigging.
1749		Fielding Tom Jones (1959) 247: He hath devoured two swinging buttered toasts this morning for breakfast.
1750		Hist. of Jack Horner 23: Jack cut and slash’d his swinging tripes, Thus grieved the giant sore.
1760		Foote The Minor 75: A woman’s not worth saving, that won’t be guilty of a swinging sin.
1771		Smollett Humphrey Clinker (1925) I 92: A swinging lump of butter.
1787		R. Ryler Contrast III i: Gor! she’s gone off in a swinging passion, before I had time to think of consequences.
1788		G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist I 230: [I] sued him for criminal conversation [...] and recovered swinging damages.
1792		C. Dibdin ‘My Lady’s Kettle’ Buck’s Delight 50: Tho’ tight he work’d, spite of his soul / There still remain’d a swinging hole, / A hole in my lady’s kettle!
1796		Sporting Mag. July VIII 228/1: At the top a fry’d liver, and bacon was seen, / At the bottom was tripe, in a swinging tureen.
c.1805		‘Patrick O’Neal’ Jovial Songster 137: This big swinging thief roll’d about in the tide.
1818		‘Thomas Brown’ Fudge Family in Paris letter III 28: Old dustmen with swinging great opera-hats.
1821		W. Combe Doctor Syntax, Wife (1868) 245/1: Nor would I wound your rev’rend cloth, / By rapping out a swinging oath.
1837		Marryat Snarleyyow I 189: ‘Let him take that for his trouble,’ cried Moggy, turning round, and delivering a swinging box of the ear upon the astonished marine.
1853		T. Haliburton Sam Slick’s Wise Saws I 68: I require a good swinging fee, and won’t work without it.
1861		‘George Eliot’ Silas Marner 126: I’d made a bargain with him to buy the horse for a hundred and twenty—a swinging price, but I always like the horse.
1866		Glasgow Herald 14 Dec. 6/1: Time was, a quack did the press attack, / When he brought his legal action; / And twelve fools gave the dirty knave, / A swinging satisfaction.
1874		Manchester Courier 6 Apr. 3/2: ‘That’s a swinging lie’.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Aug. 3/2: Or, when screwing up an eyebolt, thumb and wrench and fingers jam, / Then you recognise the beauty of a swift and swinging ‘---!’.
1906		Marvel 17 Nov. 471: He had been instrumental in getting Bill Jupe a swinging term of hard labour for an atrocious case of robbery with violence.
1994		J. O’Connor Secret World of the Irish Male (1995) 244: So we lost. Big swinging deal. We lost.