swinge v EDD ~ v2; ADD. To singe, scorch; to burn the down off sea-birds after plucking the feathers.
1896 J A Folklore ix, 25 ~ the same as singe ... is the only form heard here. 1924 ENGLAND 221 Dat teller was so nigh an' handy to hell's flames ye could smell un swindgin'. 1937 DEVINE 50 ~ To singe, to char. 1975 RUSSELL 94 'These cooks ... did they use a hot poker or did they use scaldin' water? ... they must have used one or the other. . .' 'No' said I, 'they didn't.' 'Well then,' said Grandma, 'how did they swinge'em?' 'Swinge who?' said I. 'The turrs' said she. 1976 Daily News 24 Feb, p. 3 After all day on the bay, and coming back with seventy or eighty turrs, we'd have a feed of hearts and livers in the stage head that night, cleaning the birds by dumping them in scalding hot water, pluckin' off the feathers and then swinge the down. Swinge, which rhymes with hinge, meant running a hot iron over the down, the best way to remove it.
