swill-bowl en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
From swill + bowl.
Meanings
-
(obsolete) A drunkard.
But nothing like to that hath been shewed since in the English church by the spiritual tyrant of Rome and his mitred termagants, at the provocation of their oiled swill-bowls and blind Balaamites. For they most cruelly brent those innocents which did but only read the testament of God in their mother-tongue; and do not yet repent them of that mischief, but continue therein.
1547, John Bale, The Second Examination of Anne Askewe; republished in Christmas, Henry, editor, Select Works of John Bale, The Parker Society edition, Cambridge: University Press, 1849, Britannish, page 193:Wantonness was never such a swill-bowl of ribaldry; nor Idleness ever such a carouser of knavery.
1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation; or, A New Praise of the Old Ass, published 1815, page 141:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| swill-bowls | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| swylbolle | alternative | lexicographic | |
| swillbowl | alternative | lexicographic |
Relateds
swill-belly · swill-can · swill-tub · swill-flagon · swill-pot · swill-box · swill-pail