to swill
- verb
- /swɪl/
- In the farmyard, if you swill the slop around, the pigs will come running.
Examples
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Farmers often swill their pigs with leftover food scraps to ensure they get enough nutrition.
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Now, before l tell y'all the story about how this great university . . . . . . changed the life of a boy from Mason City . . . . . .who , by all rights , should still be swilling hogs.
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Or we imagine the departed one swilling food and drinking like a sow, grunting and cruelly ignoring our cleverness, our kindness and generosity, our perfect love.
Fiction book (1996) -
He always swills the trough with warm water before adding the pigs' feed.
Synonyms
To feed pigs with leftover kitchen food
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Informal
False or useless information that does not show the real situation
Surface Forms
Etymology
Swill as a verb meaning to feed pigs comes directly from the name for the watery food itself, because farmers would pour that messy mix to the animals. So the action of giving it and the food both became known as swill.