swingle

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: swin=gle

CIDE DICTIONARY

swingle, v. i. [Freq. of swing.].

•  To dangle; to wave hanging.  Johnson.  [1913 Webster]
•  To swing for pleasure.  [1913 Webster]

swingle, v. t. [See Swingel.].

•  To clean, as flax, by beating it with a swingle, so as to separate the coarse parts and the woody substance from it; to scutch.  [1913 Webster]
•  To beat off the tops of without pulling up the roots; -- said of weeds.  Forby.  [1913 Webster]

swingle, n. 

 A wooden instrument like a large knife, about two feet long, with one thin edge, used for beating and cleaning flax; a scutcher; -- called also swingling knife, swingling staff, and swingling wand.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

swingle, n. & v.
--n.
1 a wooden instrument for beating flax and removing the woody parts from it.
2 the swinging part of a flail.
--v.tr. clean (flax) with a swingle.

Etymology

ME f. MDu. swinghel (as SWING, -LE(1))