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Swing   Listen
noun
Swing  n.  
1.
The act of swinging; a waving, oscillating, or vibratory motion of a hanging or pivoted object; oscillation; as, the swing of a pendulum.
2.
Swaying motion from one side or direction to the other; as, some men walk with a swing.
3.
A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing; especially, an apparatus for recreation by swinging, commonly consisting of a rope, the two ends of which are attached overhead, as to the bough of a tree, a seat being placed in the loop at the bottom; also, any contrivance by which a similar motion is produced for amusement or exercise.
4.
Influence of power of a body put in swaying motion. "The ram that batters down the wall, For the great swing and rudeness of his poise, They place before his hand that made the engine."
5.
Capacity of a turning lathe, as determined by the diameter of the largest object that can be turned in it.
6.
Free course; unrestrained liberty or license; tendency. "Take thy swing." "To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle to the full swing of his genius."
Full swing. See under Full.
Swing beam (Railway Mach.), a crosspiece sustaining the car body, and so suspended from the framing of a truck that it may have an independent lateral motion.
Swing bridge, a form of drawbridge which swings horizontally, as on a vertical pivot.
Swing plow, or Swing plough.
(a)
A plow without a fore wheel under the beam.
(b)
A reversible or sidehill plow.
Swing wheel.
(a)
The scape-wheel in a clock, which drives the pendulum.
(b)
The balance of a watch.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Swing" Quotes from Famous Books



... displeasure at her hostile reception. From the conservatories I caught a glimpse of a woman on the beach—a slender, agile woman throwing a ball for the amusement of a fox-terrier. She threw the ball with a boy's free swing, occasionally varying a hot one down the shore with a toss high in air which she caught up herself before the terrier could reach it. The two were having no end of a good time. She laughed joyfully when the ball fell into her hands and the terrier barked his discomfiture and eagerness for a chance ...
— Lady Larkspur • Meredith Nicholson

... ant-eater, about the size of a squirrel,—which animal it resembles very much in its habits, and somewhat in its appearance. It possesses a prehensile tail, like that of the ateles and other American monkeys, with which it can swing itself from branch to branch. The tail is covered with fur, with the exception of about three inches of the under surface at the extremity. It has a small head, the snout sharpened and bent slightly downwards. A soft, curled, and pale yellow-brown fur clothes its body. It has only ...
— The Western World - Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North - and South America • W.H.G. Kingston

... dwindle away behind you into thin bluish lines;—land and water alike take more luminous color;—bayous open into broad passes;—lakes link themselves with sea-bays;—and the ocean-wind bursts upon you,—keen, cool, and full of light. For the first time the vessel begins to swing,—rocking to the great living pulse of the tides. And gazing from the deck around you, with no forest walls to break the view, it will seem to you that the low land must have once been rent asunder by the sea, and strewn about the Gulf in ...
— Chita: A Memory of Last Island • Lafcadio Hearn

... inquired Jem: "there used to be a little matter of joviality going forward there upon the beach in war time, but I suppose it's all calm enough now." "All ruined by the peace; and all that glorious collection of the kings and queens of England, and her admirals and heroes, which used to swing to and fro in the wind, when every house upon the beach was a grog-shop, are past, vanished, or hanging like pirates in tatters; the sound of a fiddle never reaches their ears; and the parlour-floors, where we used to dance and sing till all was blue, are now ...
— The English Spy • Bernard Blackmantle

... book in hand (and I always have one), it is most disagreeable to me to turn from it and write an article; and when the article is finished I lose always at least a day, and often several days, before I get well into swing with the book again. My natural tendency is to take up one task, and peg away at ...
— Philip Gilbert Hamerton • Philip Gilbert Hamerton et al

... heavily down the hall with a thick howl. Erebus set her back against the door. He caught her by the left arm to sling her out of the way. It was a silly arm to choose, for she caught him a slap on his truly Pomeranian expanse of cheek with the full swing of her right, a slap that rang through the great hall like the crack of a whip-lash. Mr. D'Arcy Rosenheimer was large but tender. He howled again, and thumped at Erebus with big flabby fists. She ...
— The Terrible Twins • Edgar Jepson

... tie it securely with a piece of soft rope and across its top place the blankets with poncho inside, which you have previously made into a roll to fit. Bind pack and blankets together, attach the pack shoulder-strap and swing the pack on ...
— On the Trail - An Outdoor Book for Girls • Lina Beard and Adelia Belle Beard

... for a brief space, I returned home—a home which at the first glance seemed to be as I had left it. But as I approached I was confronted with a change. The gate, which in normal times used to swing shakily on its hinges and keep on chattering against its post (in the vain effort to shut) whenever the wind was in its teeth, now leaned against an adjacent bush in listless inaction. One of its hinges had been broken. I learned the details of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 147, August 12, 1914 • Various

... but moved it only a few yards. When Macabuhalbundok's turn came, he moved the great stone half a mile; but the king said that it was not satisfactory. Carancal then took hold of the rope tied to the stone, and gave a swing. In a minute the great ...
— Filipino Popular Tales • Dean S. Fansler

... were inflicted 'by vote of the majority' (2 Cor. ii. 6). The family formed a group for religious purposes, and remained the recognised unit till the second century. In Ignatius and Hermas we find the campaign against family churches in full swing. The meetings were like those of modern revivalists, and sometimes became disorderly. But of the moral beauty which pervaded the whole life of the brotherhoods there can be no doubt. Many of the converts had formerly led disreputable lives; but these were the most likely to appreciate the ...
— Outspoken Essays • William Ralph Inge

... of steel, the rush of a charger's feet, and as man and horse swept by the fainting girl—the swing of a saber, and the heavy trampling of iron-clad hoofs! Only Justine Delande saw the flashing saber cleaving the air again and again, as Hardwicke gracefully leaned to his saddle bow, in the right and left cut on the ground. And Garibaldi's beating hoofs soon completed the ...
— A Fascinating Traitor • Richard Henry Savage

... which he retreated faster than if it had all been gun-powder) Reuben changed his hour; and the doctor had the satisfaction of wishing him good evening in the porch—or of passing him on the sidewalk—or of hearing the swing of the little gate and Reuben's quick bound up the steps when his own feet were well out in the common ground ...
— Say and Seal, Volume II • Susan Warner

... Out in the alley below, three figures reeled in the circle of light afforded by the door lantern. The Kentuckian marked the upward swing of a quirt lash, saw a smaller shape fling up an arm in a vain attempt to ward off the blow. Another, the one who cried out, was belaboring the flogger with empty fists, and the voice was that ...
— Rebel Spurs • Andre Norton

... arms 23, pivoted at their forward ends to the rear margins of the upper and lower aeroplanes, respectively. These supports are preferably V-shaped, as shown, so that their forward ends are comparatively widely separated, their pivots being indicated at 24. Said supports are free to swing upward at their free rear ends, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3, their downward movement being limited in any suitable manner. The vertical pivots of the rudder 22 are indicated at 25, and one of these pivots has mounted thereon a sheave or pulley 26, around ...
— A History of Aeronautics • E. Charles Vivian

... coolly; "if I do they'll think I'm afraid; and besides, there's no room to give it a good swing for a cut, and the point's blunt since I used it ...
— Crown and Sceptre - A West Country Story • George Manville Fenn

... time, or place. In this latter case his skill would be applicable to the widest possible number of cases that could present themselves. Having a discerning eye for essentials, he would lose no chance of a swing through looking for more than the bare necessities. When the physicist describes the pendulum in terms of a formula such as t 2pi[squareroot(l/g)] he exhibits a similar discernment. He has found that the time occupied by an oscillation of any ...
— The Approach to Philosophy • Ralph Barton Perry

... married, Peggy, yes or no? Tell me at once, before I let you go!" Abrupt he spoke, and gave her arm a swing, But the same moment felt the wedding ring, And stood confus'd.—She wip'd th' empassion'd tear, "I am, I am; but is my father here?" Herbert stood by, and sharing with his bride, That perturbation which she strove to hide; "Come, honest Gilbert, you're too rough this time, Indeed here's not ...
— Wild Flowers - Or, Pastoral and Local Poetry • Robert Bloomfield

... circular space has been swept clear, and on each space a batch of skaters whirl and attitudinize, the uncleared interspaces of snow-covered, impracticable ice given up to miscellaneous loafers. Even so it is with the wide area of the Egyptian Hall when the ball is in full swing. The waltzers clear four or five ever-shifting rings for themselves, in each of which a dozen to twenty couples go round and round, colliding, jostling and (righteously enough) eliminating the vagrant do-nothings who in aimless perambulation are for ever trenching upon the dancers' ground. ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 • Various

... ceremonial objects. Life after death is still always the same as life on earth—with the same physical needs, with the same need of help from supernatural powers or against supernatural powers. The spirit of the man needed the spirit of the copper axe to swing in battle; but just as much he needed the spirit of the flint knife to make the first cut across the throat of the spirit bull of sacrifice. Remember this—the other world, in which lived the spirit of the dead, was filled with the spirits ...
— The Egyptian Conception of Immortality • George Andrew Reisner

... question with an abrupt swing of the sword. Then, he fell back in surprise. Flor had thrust a hand out to ward off the blow, and the sword had been thrown back violently. The rebound tore it from its amazed owner's hand, and it thudded to the ground. The man-at-arms looked at ...
— Millennium • Everett B. Cole

... up his hand, and all listened to a peculiar whirring sound which began at a distance, came closer and closer till it seemed to pass from under the trees, swing round the ship, and slowly die ...
— Old Gold - The Cruise of the "Jason" Brig • George Manville Fenn

... prices are not to be had), That forthwith society shrewdly shouts high For water alone, the whole abstinence cry! And, somehow supposed suggestive of heaven, The cup of cold water is generously given, But a glass of good wine is an obsolete thing, And will be till trade is once more in full swing! I hint not hypocrisy; many are true, They preach what they practise, they say—and they do, And used from their boyhood to only cold water, Enjoin nothing better on wife, son, and daughter; But ...
— My Life as an Author • Martin Farquhar Tupper

... very chilly verandah, sitting alone and staring out at the stars, was a man. He was a young man. He was also an attractive young man, with a thin brown face and very bright blue twinkling eyes. The light from the window behind him shone on him as he turned his head when he heard the swing doors open, and Mr. Twist saw these things distinctly and at once. He also saw how the young man's face fell on his, Mr. Twist's, appearance with the tray, and he also saw with some surprise how before he had reached him it suddenly cleared ...
— Christopher and Columbus • Countess Elizabeth Von Arnim

... had struck the path in my flight just before stopping to swing the flail. The man must have fallen very near it. Soon we found where he had been lying and drops of ...
— The Light in the Clearing • Irving Bacheller

... Pazzi, while they ranked with princes at the Courts of France, or Rome, or Naples, were money-lenders, mortgagees and bill-discounters in every great city of Europe. The Palle of the Medici, which emboss the gorgeous ceilings of the Cathedral of Pisa, still swing above the pawnbroker's shop in London. And though great families like the Rothschilds in the most recent days have successfully asserted the aristocracy of wealth acquired by usury, it still remains a surprising fact that the daughter of the mediaeval bankers should have given a monarch ...
— Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) • John Addington Symonds

... very pleasant at grandpa Parlin's at any time. Such a stout swing in the big oil-nut tree! Such a beautiful garden, with a summer-house in it! Such a nice cosy seat in the trees! So many "cubby holes" ...
— Little Prudy • Sophie May

... many long and delightful visits at the rectory. Three years my junior, the friendship on my part had commenced by a hundred acts of boyish kindness. Between the ages of seven and twelve, I dragged her about in a garden-chair, pushed her on the swing, and wiped her eyes and uttered words of friendly consolation when any transient cloud obscured the sunny brightness of her childhood. From twelve to fourteen, I told her stories; astonished her with narratives of my own exploits at Eton, and caused her serene blue eyes to open in admiration ...
— The Monikins • J. Fenimore Cooper

... hand he felt for the lever.... A jerk ... a swing ... and whirling, as if driven by supernatural force, the ...
— Dame Care • Hermann Sudermann

... Mr. Russell, hastily; "anybody might fall through them swing-doors; they're made ...
— Dialstone Lane, Complete • W.W. Jacobs

... the grizzly's eyes, her teeth clashed together in quick, sharp strokes, like the chattering of a chilled bather, and she lunged forward and upward to meet the charge. If the man saw her at all, it was too late to swerve from his course or swing his staff forward for a weapon. His right ski passed under the bear's foreleg and he flew headlong over her, hurtled through the air and crashed through the snow crust a dozen yards beyond her. One of the skis was broken and torn from his foot, and even if ...
— Bears I Have Met—and Others • Allen Kelly

... curiously, expecting to see her timid and reluctant. She treated them to a fine surprise; first by running to Lady Gray and rapturously kissing her hand, then returning to Lemuel, and letting him swing her up to the saddle, without an instant's hesitation. Dorothy stared, amazed; but she needn't have done so: Alfy was "her mother's daughter" as the saying goes, and inherited that good woman's love ...
— Dorothy on a Ranch • Evelyn Raymond

... third. "Blossoms of the Soul," etc. He glared at it in a dreadfully ogreish way. Both the lockers-on held their breath. Gifted Hopkins felt as if half a glass more of that warm sherry would not hurt him. There was a sinking at the pit of his stomach, as if he was in a swing, as high as he could go, close up to the swallows' nests and spiders' webs. The Butcher opened the manuscript at random, read ten seconds, and gave a short low grunt. He opened again, read ten seconds, and gave another grunt, ...
— The Guardian Angel • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... turned to the shell again, as if to examine the emergency repair. For a moment Darl stood thus, then he was running along the girder, was climbing, ape-like, along a latticed beam that curved up and in, to swing down and merge with the bulge ...
— The Great Dome on Mercury • Arthur Leo Zagat

... justice and humanity," Morgan said. "That boy, Joe Newbolt, on trial here before you for the murder of old man Chase, is innocent. That boy is telling the truth, Judge, and I'll stake my neck on that. I've got a story to tell you that will clear up all he's holding back, and I'll tell it, if I swing for it!" ...
— The Bondboy • George W. (George Washington) Ogden

... attack. I was afraid to attack and I dared not run away. I remembered that some trees I could almost reach behind me had limbs that stretched out toward me, yet I felt that to wheel, spring for a limb, and swing up beyond their reach could not be done quickly enough to escape ...
— Wild Life on the Rockies • Enos A. Mills

... said the kneeling man. "Here's his gun with all the chambers full. He didn't have a chance to shoot. Say, this is the worst thing I've ever heard of. You'll swing ...
— The Rose in the Ring • George Barr McCutcheon

... up the fish, which had just been freshly caught out of the sea. "Phil," she said, smiling bravely, "if we are deserted by human beings, we are being fed from Heaven. Let us cook this for our supper. Come, let us go back to the woods, swing our hammock and prepare to ...
— Madge Morton's Secret • Amy D. V. Chalmers

... darted along I could not help admiring his wonderful agility. There was a certain sort of confident swagger about his ordinary style of walking, such as you frequently observe in small vivacious men, who strut and swing through the streets as if the great globe itself were their private property; but upon this occasion it resolved itself into the swift and impetuous flight of a meteor. He shot from one angle of a street to another something ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. • Various

... frequency. A lawyer who courteously introduced me into the esoteric mysteries of the law as executed in this United States Court, pointed out the peculiar construction of the gallows which increased its capacity. "Eight men can stand on that plank and the drop will swing them all off at once," he said with evident pride, then added apologetically, "I never saw but six hung at one time, ...
— The American Missionary - Volume 42, No. 1, January 1888 • Various

... the tire expands with the heat, and when at a cherry red, it is dropped over the wheel, for which it was previously too small, and it is also hastily bolted down to the surface plate; the whole mass is then quickly immersed by a swing crane in a tank of water five feet deep, and hauled up and down till nearly cold; the tires are not afterward tempered. The tire is attached to the rim with rivets having countersunk heads, and the wheel is then fixed on ...
— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne

... fencing, and run into absurd follies with the gravity of the Eumenides. They stoutly carry into every nook and corner of the earth their turbulent sense; leaving no lie uncontradicted; no pretension unexamined. They chew hasheesh; cut themselves with poisoned creases, swing their hammock in the boughs of the Bohon Upas, taste every poison, buy every secret; at Naples, they put St. Januarius's blood in an alembic; they saw a hole into the head of the 'winking virgin' to ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... had ceased and an occasional half-smothered yap told that the scent was broken. A huge grape-vine end, hanging from a lofty bough, had enabled the run-away to take a long sidewise swing clear of the ground; but as I came up the brutes had recovered the trail and sped on, once more breaking the still air, far and wide, into deep waves of splendid sound. Close after them, as best they might in yoke, scuttled the younger pair, dragging each other this way and that, their ...
— The Flower of the Chapdelaines • George W. Cable

... it will spoil the prettiness and the quaintness if I reveal its real origin. Not so very long ago, the old house was a queer, rambling inn, and its sign was the redbreasted bird himself; somewhere up in the attics, the ancient board that used to swing and creak of a windy night, was still hidden—it may perhaps be there to this day! And somebody (it does not matter who, for it was not any somebody that has to do with this story) took a fancy to the house—fast growing dilapidated, and in danger ...
— Robin Redbreast - A Story for Girls • Mary Louisa Molesworth

... might work the sale of the stuff in London, and in a couple of years or so, when the thing is in swing, Meredith will come home. We can safely leave the cultivation in native hands when once we have established ourselves up there, and made ...
— With Edged Tools • Henry Seton Merriman

... by precipices or steps, are always small in proportion to the slopes themselves. Precipices rising vertically more than 100 feet are very rare among the secondary hills of which we are speaking. I am not aware of any cliff in England or Wales where a plumb-line can swing clear for 200 feet; and even although sometimes, with intervals, breaks, and steps, we get perhaps 800 feet of a slope of 60 deg. or 70 deg., yet not only are these cases very rare, but even these have little influence on the great contours of a mountain 4000 or 5000 feet in ...
— Modern Painters Volume I (of V) • John Ruskin

... reason. A group of Clay's friends came to the New Englander's room to urge in somewhat veiled language that their chief be promised, in return for his support, a place in the Cabinet. A Missouri representative who held the balance of power in his delegation plainly offered to swing the State for Adams if the latter would agree to retain a brother on the federal bench and be "reasonable" in the ...
— The Reign of Andrew Jackson • Frederic Austin Ogg

... wider, Campbell!" he said sternly, to the big corporal at his side. "Swing your files to left and right, and push the ...
— When Wilderness Was King - A Tale of the Illinois Country • Randall Parrish

... and blustering wind outside the fine ballroom—as the evening progressed—became unpleasantly hot. Dancing was in full swing and the orchestra had just struck up the first strains of that inspiriting new dance—the latest importation from Vienna—a dreamy waltz of which dowagers strongly disapproved, deeming it licentious, indecent, and certainly ungraceful, but which the young folk delighted in, and persisted ...
— The Bronze Eagle - A Story of the Hundred Days • Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy

... by Federal pickets; only the broken country between could yield us the faintest prospect of success. But at best it must largely be guesswork,—Providence, luck, what you will,—and the slightest swing of the pendulum could easily frustrate our ...
— My Lady of the North • Randall Parrish

... injunctions, the men hauling the rope gave a sudden and violent pull, wrenching the pole from my grasp, and communicating to the plank a motion like that of a pendulum, which sent me flying out into space, with the immediate prospect of being dashed by the retrograde swing against the solid wall of rock. Happily, I preserved my presence of mind, and grasped instantly the only chance of escape. Tilting myself back as far as the rope and the ring on my belt allowed, and stretching out my legs horizontally, I awaited the contact. ...
— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, April 1875, Vol. XV., No. 88 • Various

... fiercely about the little dent in the side of the mountain where the camp was built, pressing close to the loaded guns of the guards, each time, before he turned back to swing and rave ...
— Boy Scouts in Mexico; or On Guard with Uncle Sam • G. Harvey Ralphson

... he entered the pilot-house; and a moment later the watchers saw the two distant craft swing back along the horizon until the leading ship bore two points on the ...
— With Airship and Submarine - A Tale of Adventure • Harry Collingwood

... into the back bedroom, without being observed by the merrymakers, who shook the house to its foundation to the cheerful command: "Gran' right 'n' left with a double ELBOW-W!" "Chasse by yer pardner—balance—SWING!" ...
— Chip, of the Flying U • B. M. Bower

... the temple for a cup of tea. The wind was up, beating around the long, black pier behind them, and when they turned, they caught it full in the face. Alves, excited by the tussle, bent to the task with a powerful swing; Dresser skated fast behind her. As they neared the long pier, instead of turning in toward the esplanade, Alves struck out into the lake to round the obstruction and enter the yacht pool beyond. Dresser kept the pace with difficulty. As she neared the end of the pier, she gave a little cry; ...
— The Web of Life • Robert Herrick

... on hand and ready for business, their courage revived, they felt again the wonderful sentiment of solidarity which had made men of them. Pretty soon speech-making began, and cheering and singing, which brought out the laggards and the cowards. So in a short while the movement was in full swing, with practically every man, woman and child among ...
— King Coal - A Novel • Upton Sinclair

... crannies for trees and nesting-places for flocks; And he saw on the top of the cliffs, looking up from the pit of the shade, A flicker of wings and sunshine, and trees that swung in the trade. "The trees swing in the trade," quoth Rua, doubtful of words, "And the sun stares from the sky, but what should trouble the birds?" Up from the shade he gazed, where high the parapet shone, And he was aware of a ledge and of ...
— Ballads • Robert Louis Stevenson

... quick, light touch amongst the zodiac figures, dancing out a soundless invocation of some kind as a dumb man might spell a message by touching letters. Quicker and quicker, for minute after minute, grew the dance, swifter and swifter the swing of the light blue drapery as the priestess, with eager face and staring eyes, swung panting round upon her orbit, and redder and redder over the city tops rose the circumference of the earth. It seemed to me all ...
— Gulliver of Mars • Edwin L. Arnold

... an individual dressed in a peasant's frock and a slouched hat, who, pausing in the open doorway, regarded the mixed assembly with a half smile, not wanting a certain superciliousness which in other circumstances would have provoked instant observation. Now, however, the full swing of common enjoyment rendered every one blind to what the looker-on took no trouble to conceal. Nor did he at all lower his disdainful regard, when a veteran clad in a sort of military undress, arose from the opposite side of the tables, and waving a ...
— The Sea-Witch - or, The African Quadroon A Story of the Slave Coast • Maturin Murray

... and also the lateral movements of his machine; and there remains only the steering to be effected—the movement from side to side, from right to left, or vice-versa. At the rear of the biplane, as shown facing page 34, will be seen two vertical planes, E.E. These, being hinged, will swing from side to side; and they exercise a sufficient influence, when working in the strong current of air that blows upon them when a machine is in flight, to steer it accurately in any direction. The pilot, to ...
— Learning to Fly - A Practical Manual for Beginners • Claude Grahame-White

... a wonderful man you are to grapple with those old metaphysico-divinity books.... The pendulum is now swinging against our side, but I feel positive it will soon swing the other way; and no mortal man will do half as much as you in giving it a start in the right direction, as ...
— Thomas Henry Huxley - A Character Sketch • Leonard Huxley

... hurry and business, and smoking a short traveling pipe, he proceeded on a long swing trot through the muddy lanes of the metropolis, demolishing whole batches of dirt pies which the little Dutch children were making in the road, and for which kind of pastry the children of this city have ever been famous. On arriving at the governor's house, ...
— Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete • Washington Irving

... the second kite, which is left lying on the ground back downward. Then pay out the main line evenly until the tandem line begins to lift. As the pendent kite is borne higher and higher, it will swing for a while in a horizontal position; but will presently begin to flutter and sail sideways, and then finally come up more and more, until the wind catches it and it shoots up like a bird into its proper position. In fact, once the first kite is securely up, the others will fly themselves ...
— McClure's Magazine, March, 1896, Vol. VI., No. 4. • Various

... ma'am. I've seen plenty of that, and have got my bearings pretty well, I guess. I shan't have very wide swing with Peters over me, but I'll see that the boys don't get abused when he's bowsed up his jib. No right to speak before, but now I won't ...
— Jo's Boys • Louisa May Alcott

... use their sea bannisters. But this awkwardness only lasted a minute, because the strange captain, observing at a glance how affairs stood, cried out, "I see, I see!—avast heaving there! Jump, boys, and swing ...
— Moby Dick; or The Whale • Herman Melville

... fair hills thine eyes shall signal a welcome, See that on each straight yard down droop their funeral housings, Whitely the tight-strung cordage a sparkling canvas aloft swing, 235 ...
— The Poems and Fragments of Catullus • Catullus

... who awaited my arrival at the foot of the broad flight of steps leading up to the main entrance. Then, accompanied by Pousa, who also had dismounted, I ascended the steps, fifty in number, and was ushered through a wide and lofty doorway provided with a pair of heavy swing doors of massive gold, the panels of which were decorated with figures in high relief, into a cool and lofty hall, where I was received by and formally turned over to an official whom I afterward learned was the major-domo, or master of the queen's household. ...
— Through Veld and Forest - An African Story • Harry Collingwood

... geographical relations of Mr Paxton's building, but rather with that sober and leisurely-moving mass—the pendulum. Even in the seventeenth century, old Graunt was shocked when some irreverent babbler spoke of one of its honourable race by the rude epithet of 'a swing-swang;' and he penned an indignant protest on the subject to the Royal Society. Since that time the pendulum has done much more to merit the reverence of the world. Plain and simple as its outward bearing is, it really ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal Vol. XVII. No. 418. New Series. - January 3, 1852. • William and Robert Chambers

... sweet companion who had made even those hours of happiness more felicitous. Here they had rambled, here they had first tried their ponies, there they had nearly fallen, there he had quite saved her; here were the two very elms where St. Maurice made for them a swing, here was the very keeper's cottage of which she had made for him a drawing, and which he still retained. Dear girl! And had she disappointed the romance of his boyhood; had the experience the want of which had allowed him then to be pleased so easily, had it taught him to be ashamed of those ...
— The Young Duke • Benjamin Disraeli

... turn. He, too, paused; then he, too, took the final plunge, shivered, glanced at where McCutcheon and the Englishman were talking to their porters, then turned to watch the Russian boy swing himself lithely down from the high step of ...
— Max • Katherine Cecil Thurston

... an idea of the delicate flavor of such informal evenings—the sensation of being at home that the picturesque surroundings produced, the low murmur of conversation, the clink of glasses, the swing of the waltz movement played by a master hand, interrupted only when some slender form would lean against the piano and pour forth burning words of infinite pathos,—the inspired young face lighted ...
— The Ways of Men • Eliot Gregory

... angry "yes"—and then, with a petulant swing, the instrument apparently left the table and floated upon the air. In deep amazement Morton listened for some movement, some sound from Viola, but there was none, not a breath, not a rustle of motion where she sat, and the silk thread was tight and calm. "She ...
— The Tyranny of the Dark • Hamlin Garland

... his hunting shirt in that run to the fence and was now stripped to the waist. He was covered with blood. The muscles of his broad back and his brawny arms swelled and rippled under the brown skin. At every swing of the gory axe he let out a yell the like of which had never before been heard by the white men. It was the hunter's mad yell of revenge. In his thirst for vengeance he had forgotten that he was defending ...
— Betty Zane • Zane Grey

... time that shaded off from the dark shadows of internecine struggle towards the high light of steady peace and security. By 1653 the equilibrium of England had been restored. Cromwell's government was beginning to run smoothly. The courts were in full swing. None of those conditions to which we have attributed the spread of the witch alarms of the Civil Wars were any longer in operation. It is not surprising, then, that the Protectorate was one of the most quiet periods in the annals ...
— A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718 • Wallace Notestein

... enacted into law. To Clay's further charge, that he brought with him to Washington the odious system of proscription, the New York senator could truthfully have retorted that the system of removals, inaugurated by Jackson, was in full swing before Van Buren reached the national capital; that if he did not oppose it he certainly never encouraged it; that of seventeen foreign representatives, the Secretary of State had removed only four; and that, in making appointments as governor, he never departed ...
— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

... beauty. The road rolls upon the easy slopes of the country, like a long ship in the hollows of the sea. The very margins of waste ground, as they trench a little farther on the beaten way, or recede again to the shelter of the hedge, have something of the same free delicacy of line—of the same swing and wilfulness. You might think for a whole summer's day (and not have thought it any nearer an end by evening) what concourse and succession of circumstances has produced the least of these deflections; ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. XXII (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... fell into habits of voluptuous idleness. Agriculture was neglected, and the mines deserted. Contenting themselves with a bare supply of the wants of nature, they sank into such a state of indolence, that many of their slaves had no other employment than to swing them in their hammocks the livelong day. No colony could nourish composed of such a people. During the first half century of its existence, it had indeed become considerable; but for a century afterward it dwindled away, neglected and ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol III, Issue VI, June, 1863 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... her into a nice light cage, where there was soft green moss to lie on, a little bark dish with clear water, and abundance of food. The cage was hung up on the bough of a tree, near the wigwam, to swing to and fro as the wind waved the tree. Here Silvy could see the birds flying to and fro, and listen to their cheerful songs. The Indian women and children had always a kind look, or a word to say to her; ...
— Lady Mary and her Nurse • Catharine Parr Traill

... the segment. The first or normal notch, i.e., the top notch, is always of such a depth that it will allow the rocker-arm lever 2 to engage the contact lever 4, but will not permit the rocker arm to swing far enough to the left to cause that contact to engage the bell contact 5. As will be shown later, the condition for the talking circuit to be closed is that the rocker arm 2 shall rest against the contact 4; and from this we see that the normal notch of each of the segments 3 ...
— Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 - A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. • Kempster Miller

... would try my luck—I mean try whether to kill her or not—-by throwing up the Spud of the plow into the air. I said to myself, if it falls flat, I'll spare her; if it falls point in the earth, I'll kill her. I took a good swing with it, and shied it up. It fell point in the earth. I went and shot her. It was a bad job, but I did it. I did it, as they said I did it at the trial. I hope the Lord will have mercy on me. I wish my mother to have my old clothes. I have ...
— No Name • Wilkie Collins

... professional idlers and the drunkard were there, but the others—there was no lack of them. There was no lack of men, white-faced, dull-eyed, dejected, some of them actually with the brand of starvation to be seen in their sunken cheeks and wasted limbs. No wonder that the swing-doors of the public-houses, where there was light and warmth inside, opened and ...
— A Prince of Sinners • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... said the dwarf, preparing to vanish at the word. He was just beginning to get into the swing of it. ...
— Happy Days • Alan Alexander Milne

... Jacks, a shooting-gallery proprietor and the ladies who loaded the guns, a pair of boxing-masters, a steam-roundabout manager, two travelling broom-makers, who called themselves widows, a gingerbread-stall keeper, a swing-boat owner, and ...
— Jude the Obscure • Thomas Hardy

... a lion," says another witness. "He was taller than any of us. He gave his orders briefly, encouraged us, and placed us. Then he plunged his hand into the bag of bombs, and, leaning back, threw one with a full swing of the arm, aiming each time. That excited us, and ...
— Fields of Victory • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... Letourneur, have been taking our turn at the pumps, for the work is so extremely fatiguing that the crew require some occasional respite; arms and back soon become strained and weary with the incessant swing of the handles, and I can well understand the dislike which sailors always express to ...
— The Survivors of the Chancellor • Jules Verne

... want to have a pull at these ropes. But I reckon we'll have to disapp'int ye. The things we're agoin' to swing up don't desarve hoistin' to etarnity by free-born citizens o' the Lone Star State. 'Twould be a burnin' shame for any Texan to do the hangin' o' sech ...
— The Lone Ranche • Captain Mayne Reid

... resort much frequented by the summer colonists, and though it was not yet in full swing there were some amusements opened. These the young people enjoyed ...
— The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale • Laura Lee Hope

... bursting forth like mountain-springs, Poured from the hillside camping-ground, Each swift battalion shouting flings Its force in line; where you may see The men, broad-shouldered, heavily Sway to the swing of the march; their heads Dark like the stones ...
— Dreams and Days: Poems • George Parsons Lathrop

... occasion, you were sailing under the title of Princess Royal; I, after a furious contest, under that of Prince Alfred; and Willie, still a little sulky, as the Prince of Wales. We were all in a buck basket about half-way between the swing and the gate; and I can still see the Pirate Squadron heave in ...
— The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson - Volume 1 • Robert Louis Stevenson

... under such circumstances, and a lofty position being the best for ascertaining the presence of rocks, I determined to remain where I was, and conn the ship through the passes, in my own person. An order was accordingly given to set the jib, and to swing the head-yards, and get the spanker on the ship. In a minute, the Crisis was again in motion, moving steadily towards the inlet. As the lagoon was not entirely free from danger, coral rocks rising in places quite near the surface of the ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper

... graciousness. One remembers him as his dolly face lighted at John's order to go and clean trout or carry in logs, and one does not forget the absurd, queer little fast trot at which his powerful young legs would instantaneously swing off to obey the behest. Such was the Tin Lizzie, the guide who paddled bow in my canvas canoe on the day of the ...
— Joy in the Morning • Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews

... there absorbed in the terrors before me, I was startled by the click of the catch and the clink of keys, followed by the noiseless swing of the steel ...
— The Underdog • F. Hopkinson Smith

... by pointing to a doorway at the back of the great entrance, while the officer swung himself from his horse, threw the rein to one of his men, and then lifting his sabre-tache by the strap he gave it a swing or two to throw off the water from its dripping sides, and then opened the great pocket to peer inside as if to see that ...
— The Ocean Cat's Paw - The Story of a Strange Cruise • George Manville Fenn

... to dance when I was younger. De fiddlers was Henry Copley and Buck Manigault; and if anybody 'round here could make a fiddle ring like Buck could, wouldn't surprise me none if my heart wouldn't cry out to my legs, 'Fust lady to de right and cheat or swing as you like, and on ...
— Slave Narratives Vol. XIV. South Carolina, Part 1 • Various

... disregard the Major's orders and, instead of proceeding to Dormans, swing back and do all he could at ...
— Aces Up • Covington Clarke

... her own a strange fire. That he loved her with a great and evil passion, I, who needs had watched him closely, had long known. Suddenly he burst into jarring laughter. "Yea, he treated me fairly enough, damn him to everlasting hell! But he 's a pirate, sweet bird; he's a pirate, and must swing ...
— To Have and To Hold • Mary Johnston

... last the stranger saw his chance and changed his tune of fighting. With one upward stroke he sent Eric's staff whirling through the air. With another he tapped Eric on the head; and, with a third broad swing, ere the other could recover himself, he swept him clear off the stage, much as you would brush a ...
— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... with a foot-piece; special box-splints with moveable sides, as Butcher's;[65] plaster-of-Paris moulds are used by Dr. P.H. Watson[66] of Edinburgh and others; this last form of dressing is the best, and allows the limb to be suspended from a Salter's swing. ...
— A Manual of the Operations of Surgery - For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners • Joseph Bell

... 'I'm in trouble: that's enough. If I'm caught I shall swing; that's certain. Caught I shall be, unless I stop here; that's as certain. And ...
— Sketches by Boz - illustrative of everyday life and every-day people • Charles Dickens

... Well, next to the League I rode over; their men Were mustering in haste against Magdeburg then. Ha! that was another guess sort of a thing! In frolic and fun we'd a glorious swing; With gaming, and drinking, and girls at call, I'faith, sirs, our sport was by no means small. For Tilly knew how to command, that's plain; He held himself in but gave us the rein; And, long as he hadn't the bother of paying, "Live and let live!" was the general's saying. But ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... which was more to her advantage than the pistols would have been had they made her a present of them. She gave a sudden shrill cry that startled them and made them look wildly for the door; but she had done no more than command a punkah-wallah, and the heavy-beamed punkah began to swing rhythmically overhead, adding, if that were possible, ...
— Winds of the World • Talbot Mundy

... as we go. Swing his coffin to and fro; As of old the lusty billow Swayed him on his heaving pillow: So that he may fancy still, Climbing up the watery hill, Plunging in the watery vale, With her wide-distended sail, His good ship securely stands Onward to the ...
— Choice Specimens of American Literature, And Literary Reader - Being Selections from the Chief American Writers • Benj. N. Martin

... prayerbook or fan. Fancy one of those porcelain-like creatures of helplessness hanging onto the strap in a State Street cable car! Perish the thought! And what a jolly time Mme. Crequy would have had could she have indulged in a Christmas shopping scrimmage. After a few tussels with the swing doors that bar our entrance to the big stores, Mme. Crequy would have blistered her hands to the queen's taste and the poultice stage. There's no chance ...
— The Woman Beautiful - or, The Art of Beauty Culture • Helen Follett Stevans

... upon their knees and began to groan together. The silver coins on the lamp began to swing; the brass cyanthus which Amaryllis had recently drained of her last drink of wine moved gradually to the edge of the pedestal upon which ...
— The City of Delight - A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem • Elizabeth Miller



Words linked to "Swing" :   plaything, drop, stroke, direct, slicing, mechanical device, vacillate, approach, square dancing, loll, draw, droop, activity, fluctuate, in full swing, motion, play, lilt, approach shot, golf stroke, downswing, train, weave, swing over, movement, swing music, wind up, contradance, King of Swing, contredanse, dangle, action, sweep, baseball swing, go, jive, hang, shank, hook, swinging, change, move, trapeze, lash, hooking, playground, fade, swing shift, sway, country dancing, waver, blow, shot, slice, swing about, rhythmicity, vacillation, swing around, move back and forth



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