Etymology From Middle English swengen (“to strike”), from Old English swenġan (“to dash, strike; to cause to swing”), from Proto-West Germanic *swangijan (“to cause to swing”).
The scorching flame fore swinged all his face1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Th' old Dragon underground / In ſtraiter limits bound, / Not half ſo far caſts his uſurped ſvvay, / And vvrath to ſee his Kingdom fail, / Svvindges the ſcaly Horrour of his foulded tail.1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 9:
For certaine words he ſpake againſt your Grace / In your retirment, I had ſwing'd him ſoundly.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 80, column 2:
Sir Fee[ble]. 'Tis—Jealouſie, the old VVorm that bites— [Aſide] VVho is it you ſuſpect? / Sir Cau[tious]. Alas I knovv not vvhom to ſuſpect, I vvou'd I did; but if you cou'd diſcover him—I vvou'd ſo ſvvinge him.—1686 (first performance), A[phra] Behn, The Luckey Chance, or An Alderman’s Bargain. A Comedy. […], London: […] R. H[olt], for W. Canning, […], published 1687, →OCLC, Act III, scene [iv], page 37:
1 more example
And ſwinges his own Vices in his Son.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden Jun., transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fourteenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 279, line 79:
O, the passion of God, so I shall be swinged. / So, my bones shall be bangedǃ / The porridge pot is stolenː what, Lob, say, / Come away, and be hangedǃa. 1575, unknown author, The Marriage of Wit and Wisdom:
Etymology From Middle English swengen (“to strike”), from Old English swenġan (“to dash, strike; to cause to swing”), from Proto-West Germanic *swangijan (“to cause to swing”).