swiple

English

Noun

swiple (plural swiples)

1. Alternative form of swipple
   • 1851, "Flail", entry in Cuthbert William Johnson, The Farmer's and Planter's Encyclopaedia of Rural Affairs, Lippincott, page 482,

     It anciently was truly a whip, and sometimes had two or more lashes: the modern flail consists of the handle or handstaff, which the labourer holds in his hand, and uses as a lever, to raise up and bring down the swiple, or part which strikes the corn, and beats out the chaff and grain from the straw.

   • 1978, Donald Macdonald, Lewis: A history of the island, page 76:

     The flail consisted of two parts, a six foot wooden staff attached by a sheepskin thong to a four foot buailtean, swiple of wood, thick tarry cable, or dried tangle.

   • 2011, Craig Williamson (editor & translator), A Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Songs, University of Pennsylvania Press, page 195,

     The two hard captives bound together as one punishing creature, wielded by a Welshwoman and slave, are probably the handle and swiple of a threshing flail.

References

• “swiple”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.