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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

swig.

To drink (usually by gulping or in a greedy or unrefined manner); to quaff.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/swɪɡ/UK, US
  1. To drink (usually by gulping or in a greedy or unrefined manner); to quaff.

    That sailor can swig whisky with the best of 'em.
  2. To suck.

    obsolete
  3. To take up the last bit of slack in rigging by taking a single turn around a cleat, then hauling on the line above and below the cleat while keeping tension on the line.

Where this word comes from

Unknown, mid 16th c. Perhaps connected with Old English swelgan (“to swallow”).

noun/swɪɡ/UK, US
  1. Drink, liquor.

    obsolete
  2. A long draught from a drink.

    broadly
    take a swig of whisky
  3. A person who drinks deeply.

    obsolete
  4. A tackle with ropes which are not parallel.

  5. Warm beer flavoured with spices, lemon, etc.

Where this word comes from

Unknown, mid 16th c. Perhaps connected with Old English swelgan (“to swallow”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.